QUESTION #21: HOW DO COMPENSATION INCREASES AFFECT THE OVERALL BUDGET?
Salary/benefits (i.e., compensation) are the single greatest expense in the budget and represent roughly 60% of next year's budget. (Take a look at the pie chart of expenditures by natural classification in Question #2 to see this in pictorial form.) Thus, because salary/benefits consume so much of available resources, it is very challenging for the Budget Steering Committee to choose from among all of the non-salary budgets requests in light of remaining available resources.
