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In addition, the thought was raised that special efforts should be made to raise funds for activities which had already been budgeted. If the fund raising is successful, it would allow the Secretary the flexibility to supplement further top level trust fund salaries from the supplanted budget funds. Finally, it was noted that the Congress may be considering either general or special pay bills and the interests of the Smithsonian ought to be kept firmly in mind.

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The Institution continues to monitor closely Administration and Congressional developments concerning senior level pay for its administrative and professional staffs. For those persons at the Supergrade level (the Smithsonian is not eligible to participate in the Senior Executive Service), the pay cap is $75,500. This group includes a few members of the Secretary's Management Committee, some bureau and office directors and deputy directors, and over 30 senior scientists. Other members of the Management Committee and several of the museum directors are paid from trust funds above the cap at salaries varying from $87,500 to, in one case, $115,000 plus an annual ten percent bonus. While such salaries are needed to attract and retain highly qualified persons, the pay cap for others and the disparity in pay among jobs of substantially equal responsibility are causing significant equity issues and morale problems. And for those positions, which remain at the pay cap, particularly in the program area, significant recruitment problems exist.

A number of actions have been taken to address these concerns. The Institution has retained a consultant to recommend actions to clarify and make more rational pay and benefit decisions. Letters have been sent to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and key members of Congress proposing a way to correlate and increase supergrade pay to Senior Executive Service (SES) pay, should the latter be raised. The Institution is staying in touch with all legislative proposals regarding pay should there be an opportunity to include Smithsonian interests. Information from the OPM is that there is not likely to be a study in the near future of supergrade pay as called for in the report of the 1989 Commission on Executive, Legislative and Judicial Salaries.

The likely necessary solution is for the Institution to seek legislation either to tie our senior staff pay to whatever pay raises are provided to the SES or to propose separate pay and related legislation for the Smithsonian. Depending on the results of the consultant's work and further Congressional acting regarding pay, such legislation may be proposed for action by the Board of Regents at its January 1990 meeting.