NIU officials are not sure what will happen to salary hikes for faculty and staff if a proposed tax increase is not passed.

Kenneth Beasley, assistant to NIU President John LaTourette, said pay increases are tentatively linked to a tax increase. In the event of no tax increase, Beasley said, “there may be some salary money. We’re not sure.”

Until the state legislature makes its final decision and appropriates money, there is not much NIU can do, Beasley said. The administration is waiting for the Illinois General Assembly to make its funding decisions before deciding the fate and/or amount of a salary increase, he said.

Eddie Williams, NIU vice president for finance and planning, agrees with Beasley. “It is impossible to say what the administration will do at this time,” he said.

NIU has not set aside money for a faculty and staff pay hike “because you can’t just set aside money,” Williams said. “We (the administration) have not set aside money because none has been allocated,” he said.

There is a problem because the issue of a pay raise has become “politically bogged down,” Williams said. There seems to be rumor after rumor, he added.

Beasley said NIU discussed the possible situations that might arise. “The administration has discussed many plans,” Beasley said, although he added he was not at liberty to discuss what those plans entailed.

“When we look at them (the plans) they are scenarios and just that,” Williams said.

A personal and corporate income tax increase of 40 percent was proposed by Gov. James Thompson earlier this month, and would provide about $217 million in additional revenue for higher education.

If the increase is adopted by the General Assembly, NIU could receive $12 million and has tentatively budgeted a 10 percent increase for faculty and staff based on that figure.

Passage of the increase remains in doubt with the legislature which has until June 30 to decide the matter, unless it convenes a special summer session.

The increase was dealt a major blow earlier this week when House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, refused to support the proposal. Madigan, the only one of four key legislative leaders to oppose the plan, said he was not convinced of the need to raise taxes.

In response, Thompson said Illinois has a “do-nothing legislature.”