CBU reports another profitable year
SYDNEY — Another good financial year was reported by Cape Breton University.
Assets have continued to climb since David Dingwall became the university's seventh president in 2018, as well as the number of staff making $100,000 or more annually.
The number of staff, which includes faculty and administration, making $100,000 or more increased from 136 in 2019 to 173 in 2022, as reported in the statement of disclosure of compensation found on the province's website.
This includes Dingwall who was compensated $392,893 for the year ending March 31, 2022, making him the second-highest paid university president in Nova Scotia. The first was Dalhousie University president Deep Saini who was compensated $558,154 for the same year.
Dingwall's base salary is $350,000, which was increased from $290,000 in October 2020 by the board of governors after a glowing performance review.
The amending agreement from Oct. 23, 2020, can be found online as part of Dingwall's contract, which has to be posted for public review. In it, the board cites a 70 per cent increase in enrolment (as of fall 2019) and strengthened financial stability as two of the reasons for the approved raise. Another was the economic impact the international student population at CBU has on the community; an increase of $38.5 million to $118.7 million.
On top of his base salary, Dingwall was compensated close to $43,000 more for the year ending March 31, 2022. In an interview with the Cape Breton Post, CBU vice-president of finance and operations Gordon MacInnis wouldn't say exactly what the $43,000 in compensation was for. However, he did say things like pension contributions and travel expenses would be included in this amount.
Other expenses Dingwall might be compensated for which are detailed in his contract include work-related events at his private residence and business travel expenses for his wife when she
accompanies him.
Over the past three nonconsolidated financial statements, which can also be found on the university's website at cbu.ca, assets have increased by more than $129 million. For the year ending March 31, 2020, assets were reported at $175,777,756. This increased to $209,468,348 in 2021 and for the year ending March 31, 2022, jumped to $304,797,265.
Net income (excess revenues over expenses) has also stayed in the black, although for the year ending March 31, 2022, it was lower than the past two financial reports.
According to the statements, the net income was $10,831,580. This is the lowest net income (which measures a company's profitability) reported in three years; down from $18,909,580 for the year ending March 31, 2021. This is down from $23,484,444 the previous year, March 31, 2020 — two weeks after the COVID-19 shutdowns resulted in international travel restrictions.
Regardless of the decrease in net income, staying in the black during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic is undeniably a positive.
"The university has a strong balance sheet," said MacInnis. "The university has done fine over the past couple of years."
He believes the strong balance sheet is due to two things: $54 million the institution was awarded in provincial grants and student deposits, particularly from international students who pay up to a year in advance so they can obtain a study visa for the country.
"We have a strong balance sheet. The university has done reasonably well the last couple of years so that we can put aside some money to use for capital investment over the next few years," MacInnis said.
"It really gives us the opportunity to make a capital investment that would set up this university for years to come."
MILLIONS OUTSTANDING
While there have been many financial positives for CBU, revenues haven't returned to pre-pandemic amounts and millions are owing in student accounts.
Revenues took a substantial drop from the 2020 to 2021 financial reports; from $113,281,832 (2020) to $98,862,447 (2021). For the year ending March 31, 2022, revenues increased slightly to $99,146,750.
MacInnis said the current high intake numbers of international students is partly due to students who had to defer their studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Domestic enrolment isn't seeing such an increase and is down, dropping to about 2,000 or lower. MacInnis said the pandemic "effectively stalled domestic and stopped international recruitment efforts" and they are "paying the price now."
"We are working hard to bring that number (domestic enrolment) up again," he said.
Outstanding student accounts for the year ending March 31, 2022, was $9,278,759, down slightly from $9,940,601 the previous year. In 2021, there was $6,015,800 owing in student accounts.
For 2022, there is $3,359,685 in doubtful accounts which is counted as lost revenue as it's expected to not be paid.
MacInnis said the amount owing in student accounts is "significant."
"It's certainly an issue," he said. "Any accountant would see they want those numbers to be zero … We have to find the ebb and flow of it to bring that number down."
173 OVER $100,000
Out of the 173 CBU staff making $100,000 or more, four are making in excess of $200,000 and Dingwall is the only one making in excess of $300,000.
There has been a steady increase in staff (faculty and administration) making over $100,000 annually since 2019. That year it was reported that 136 people were making over $100,000. The following year this grew to 153 people and then to 167 in 2021.
"We do believe we need to pay competitive salaries to retain the best people," said MacInnis.
He also said they've had a number of staff reach levels of employment status that under their collective agreement moves them up a pay scale.
"That's something we want by the way," MacInnis added. "We don't want a high turnover of employees.
Cape Breton University Faculty Association president Adango Miadonye believes the higher salaries of faculty are due to them being overworked and not being properly compensated.
"Faculty making over $100,000 does not equate to the administration making over $200,000. You have a top VP administration, they keep hiring a lot of directors…vice presidents, social advisors, and they're all being paid over $200,000 compared to the faculty who are doing all the work," he said.
"The salary you see there in most cases, more than half of the faculty that you are placed in the over a hundred thousand, it is because they are doing an excess load. They are overworked. They take excess overload in order to make a living. We don't want that."
Currently, the faculty association (the largest union at CBU) has no contract with the university as they are at a standstill in negotiations.
Miadonye believes this is in part due to the base salary the university is offering faculty.
"We have a good program that brings in money. When the students are here, it puts pressure on everybody. Not only the administration. Especially the lectures and the staff. They overwork themselves to make sure that the students benefit from the study they come here for," said Miadonye.
"But when it comes to that, the employer looks at the money in the pot, and now they give it to themselves. They decided on how much of an increment they will get. Ten per cent? Twenty per cent? We are not looking for that much. We are just asking that they give us something that is reasonable."
Contract negotiations between CBU and the faculty association have moved into conciliation. A conciliator has been appointed and will meet with the two parties on Dec. 13 and 14.