Board of Regents meetings cost $77,000 each

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

Every time the Board of Regents meets it costs the state $77,000, according to a university and community college system cost analysis.

But others say that number is deceiving and that expenses only run about $16,000 a meeting.

How much it costs to hold a regents meeting will be key to a discussion at a December meeting about whether the board should do more to save money.

The $77,000 figure takes into account the "borrowed time" of dozens of administrators in addition to travel costs and fees for copying reams of paper. With at least seven meetings a year, the total that the 11-member higher education board spends on meetings can reach $539,000 a year, according to the report.

"That's an enormous amount," Regent Mark Alden said. "We're trying to ask other institutions to save money for the system and we're the biggest spenders of all."

In light of a tight state economy a few regents are pushing to conserve by cutting the number of meetings and the number of administrators who attend.

But administrators working for the system say that's not necessary because much of the $77,000 spent includes the cost of the time of people already on the payroll.

"It's not costing you actual cash for their time because they will be paid whether they are here or doing other work," said Suzanne Ernst, the board's chief administrative officer.

The bulk of the meeting costs comes from counting the time of up to 69 administrators from eight state campuses who attend. The cost of staff time comes to $61,000 a meeting.

Without that figure included, each meeting would only cost about $16,000 -- that includes $2,600 for mailing and postage, $4,700 for food and $8,500 for travel.

Regent Steve Sisolak said the time used by some administrators leading up to the meetings equates to lost money.

"If these individuals spend the same amount of time as I do preparing for a meeting then they are probably spending a week," Sisolak said. "If you are talking eight meetings a year, you are talking eight weeks.

"I don't think on campus the day-to-day work should suffer because of these meetings."

By comparison, the Nevada State Board of Education meets seven times a year and has 11 members from regions throughout the state. It spends an estimated $11,900 a meeting.

Only about seven administrators attend that board's meetings, said Doug Thunder, deputy superintendent of administrative and fiscal service for the Board of Education.

In an effort to make regents meetings more efficient, the university system has asked that only essential personnel attend.

"I think what will happen on the campuses is that if somebody needs to make a presentation for an item they will be there," said Dan Miles, the university system's vice chancellor for finance and administration.