Compensation is 70% of Wright State’s budget, said university spokesman Seth Bauguess.
Raiders Basketball Coach Scott Nagy made $523,533 in 2019, making him the highest-paid person at Wright State. This is about $23,000 less than he made in 2018.
With his bonus, Nagy made $546,477 in 2018.
Nagy received a bonus for making the NCAA Tournament in 2018, Bauguess said. That bonus was larger than the $22,283 bonus he received in 2019 for playing in the National Invitation Tournament.
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The second highest-paid employee was Boonshoft School of Medicine Dean Margaret Dunn at $518,199.
Cheryl Schrader, who was president of Wright State in 2019, earned the third most at $483,000 last year.
Susan Edwards started as president of the university on Jan. 1. Edwards began earning a base pay of $425,000 prorated to begin Oct. 16, according to an addendum to her provost contract.
As provost, Edwards earned $305,000 a year. Payroll data from 2019 shows Edwards made $330,217.
Wright State employed about 270 fewer people in 2018 than it did in 2017. In 2019, Wright State continued to hold positions open to save money.
“Wright State continues to use position vacancies as a cost savings measure,” Bauguess said in a written statement. “An institution the size of Wright State University experiences position vacancies on a regular basis. The turnover in positions creates vacancies and those vacancies result in financial savings. Those vacancies are strategically reviewed as they occur to determine the necessity of and timing around replacement. This is an ongoing process.”
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In addition to the payroll cuts, Wright State has also nearly doubled its cash reserves in the last two years.
The university has increased the amount in its reserve fund for 2020 to about $8.2 million.
That’s about $5.2 million more than the $3 million the school’s FY 2019 budget required to be added to reserves. The money increases the university’s cash reserves to more than $60 million after years of overspending drained it to $31 million in fiscal year 2017.
In fiscal year 2018, the school reduced spending by around $53 million. Wright State’s budget for fiscal year 2020 is $245 million.
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