BOSTON – University of Massachusetts officials defended the system's pay policies Wednesday after the Boston Herald reported some hefty salary increases for President Marty Meehan's already highly compensated staff, pointing out they came as Meehan is trying to get $10.9 million from the Legislature to cover a budget gap stemming from unfunded 3.5 percent raises for unionized teachers and workers.
The university system's lead spokesman, Robert Connolly, told the NewBostonPost Wednesday that UMass salaries, when compared with similarly-sized multi-campus public institutions, come in "around the 75th percentile" nationally.
STATE HOUSE — Several experts pegged the likely growth of tax revenues in fiscal 2017 at less than 4 percent, citing drags on the economy from an aging workforce and relatively scarce housing combined with an expected further decrease in the income tax rate.
At the annual hearing on revenues Wednesday that kicked off the annual appropriations process, lawmakers heard a range of projections on the availability of tax revenues for fiscal 2017 budget-building purposes. The estimates came in as low as 3.2 percent and as high as 5.6 percent.
