University employees can expect a 5% salary increase over the next two years in alliance with the proposed state budget Gov. Roy Cooper is expecting to sign later in the week.

In accordance with the state legislature’s proposed budget, Chancellor Sheri Everts sent an email Tuesday to the App State community highlighting the impacts the finalized budget will have on the university.

The funds stem from Cooper’s final two-year budget bill which includes salary increases, faculty and staff bonuses and $123 million of capital projects, renovations and repairs.

“With support from the UNC System Board of Governors, UNC System leadership and App State’s Board of Trustees my leadership team and I have advocated for the resources and facilities our campus deserves to engage our mission at its highest level,” Everts wrote.

Everts announced a 5% across-the-board salary increase, providing a 2.5% increase for this fiscal year and a 2.5% increase in 2022-23. This compares to the 2% salary increase in the 2018-19 budget. 

A fiscal year for App State encompasses the same time frame as the school year, starting and ending in August. This increase will be retroactive to July 1.

Full-time state employees and local education employees will also receive a $1,000 bonus. 

Retired state employees will get a 5% cost-of-living adjustment bonus; 2% this fiscal year and 3% in 2022-23. They will not receive the salary raise of active employees.

In addition, a $500 bonus will go to employees with an annual salary of less than $75,000; members of law enforcement; Department of Public Safety employees; Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice employees with multiple in-person duties; and Department of Health and Human Services employees in a position at a 24-hour residential or treatment facility.

  According to the update, UNC System chancellors have asked the budget to be authorized by the UNC System as soon as possible to include salary changes in December paychecks.

Cooper signing the budget will also provide money to the UNC board of governors to fund enrollment growth at colleges in the school system.

“Our schools, communities, small businesses, and families need our help right now, especially as we recover from this pandemic,” Cooper said in a tweet Tuesday. “I will sign this budget because of its critical and necessary investments and I will fight to fix its mistakes.”

Everts’ message outlines the budget’s accommodation to $123 million funding toward capital projects, repairs and renovations.

The email explains $79 million will be given to capital projects. The projects include beginning work on App State’s $54 million Innovation District Project and $25 million for renovations of Peacock Hall. 

The remaining $43.15 million will be put toward the following projects, according to the email:

• $20 million: Edwin Duncan Hall renovation
• $10 million: Wey Hall partial renovation–building systems
• $5 million: Wey Hall envelope & roof repair
• $1.5 million: campus-wide electronic door access installation
• $1.3 million: Walker Hall envelope & structural repair
• $1 million: Smith Wright Hall roof repair & replacement
• $800,000: Edwin Duncan Hall HVAC & lighting improvements
• $600,000: Chapell Wilson Hall gutter/soffit/roof replacement
• $500,000: Walker Hall HVAC repair & upgrades
• $500,000: Anne Belk Hall hot water piping replacement
• $300,000: facilities operations/motor pool wall repairs
• $300,000: John E. Thomas Hall envelope
• $250,000: John E. Thomas Hall chiller compressor upgrades
• $250,000: University Hall sprinkler system
• $200,000: Holmes Convocation Center chiller
• $200,000: Howard Street Hall road opening
• $200,000: Peacock Hall elevator upgrade
• $150,000: Holmes Convocation Center VAV replacement
• $100,000: B.B. Dougherty chiller repair

“The support for App State in this budget speaks volumes about our university, the quality of the work done by our faculty, staff and students and the trust that state and UNC System leadership place in us,” Everts wrote. “I celebrate the increased compensation for our faculty and staff, which recognizes the work they do to support our students every day.”