I'm sorry, I guess I mis-spoke.

I was calculating an increase in the overall rate of 5%, not a 5% increase
in the rate.

Robin

On 8/22/11 10:29 AM, "Riggs, Mitzi" <xxxxxx@OKSTATE.EDU> wrote:

>An increase of 5% on your benefit rate, makes your new benefit rate
>31.5%, not 35%.
>
>Mitzi
>
>__________________________________________________________
>Mitzi M. Riggs, CRA
>Research Administration Coordinator
>College of Engineering, Architecture & Technology
>Oklahoma State University
>201 Advanced Technology Research Center, Stillwater, OK  74078
>Email:  xxxxxx@okstate.edu
>Phone:  405-744-6562; Fax:  405-744-3189
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Research Administration List
>[mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of
>xxxxxx@mcdaniel.edu
>Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 9:19 AM
>To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
>Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Inflation of Fringe Benefits in Proposed Budget
>
>I'm a numbers person at heart. So when looking at things like this, I
>always look at the numbers first.
>
>Say you have a PI at 100k, 30% fringe, 20% effort, and 3% inflation rate.
>
>Year 1: 20,000 salary and 6,000 benefits.
>Year 2: 20,600 salary and 6,180 benefits.
>Year 2 with an "extra" 5% padding for benefits: 20,600 salary and 7,210
>benefits
>
>So a 5% increase in the fringe benefit rate is an additional 1,030 burden
>to the budget. I personally have to do this to get an idea exactly what
>amount of money we are discussing.
>
>Now, I think issue can be looked at from different viewpoints. As a state
>institution, do your fringe rates vary that greatly from year to year? At
>the private institutions where I have worked, they do not. At one
>institution they have not yet changed since I have been here. At the other
>institution the changes were less than 1%, and one year they went down and
>not up. (Granted, they were self-insured, which I think made a huge
>difference). I would think 5%, as used in my example above, would be
>extreme.
>
>You also have to consider consistency. In an ideal world, applications
>from the same institution to the same funding agency should use the same
>calculation methods. Since it's the application stage I don't really think
>cost principles apply...but it's just good business practice.
>
>As for fringes being negotiated on the F&A, I can not answer that
>question.
>
>Robin
>
>
>On 8/22/11 9:41 AM, "Terri Fayle" <xxxxxx@K-STATE.EDU> wrote:
>
>>This argument has been given, and I don't disagree with it.  However, I
>>have been in situations where the salary DID go up and the fringes ALSO
>>went up.  This practice is fine if one or the other goes up, but you're
>>short if they both go up.
>>
>>The argument has also been given to increase the salaries by double what
>>you normally do to cover the increase in fringes.  I don't see how that's
>>any different or LESS inconsistent than inflating the fringes.
>>
>>Is it true then, if your fringe rates on negotiated on your F&A rate
>>agreement (at my previous institution they were not), those are the only
>>rates you can use??
>>
>>t.
>>
>>Terri L. Fayle
>>Senior Grant Specialist
>>K-State Research & Extension Proposal Services
>>Waters Hall 105C
>>Kansas State University
>>Manhattan, KS 66506-4008
>>xxxxxx@k-state.edu
>>
>>Voice 785-532-7255
>>FAX 785-532-5549
>>Cell 660-238-7165
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Randall J Legeai" <xxxxxx@TULANE.EDU>
>>To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
>>Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 4:01:26 PM
>>Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Inflation of Fringe Benefits in Proposed Budget
>>
>>If you are using a fringe *rate* (i.e. a percentage of salary), and you
>>build in an annual salary escalation as most people do, your fringe
>>amounts will be escalated as well.
>>- Randy.
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Research Administration List
>>[mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Nicole Braman
>>Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 3:47 PM
>>To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
>>Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Inflation of Fringe Benefits in Proposed Budget
>>
>>We use an inflation rate on the salary, not fringe. Although this year we
>>had a significant fringe increase, so I am wondering if it isn't a valid
>>practice to increase fringe as well. I am curious what others have to
>>say.
>>
>>Nicole
>>
>>Terri Fayle wrote:
>>> All,
>>>
>>> I'd be interested to hear your comments regarding inflation of fringe
>>>benefits while creating a proposal budget.  My institution uses a
>>>published estimated rate for certain employee classes.  But when the
>>>charges actually hit the grant budget, it is the actual amount of
>>>charges for that employee, so in most cases different than what was
>>>proposed.
>>>
>>> Typically, no inflation is applied to fringes when creating multiple
>>>year budgets.  Since I'm new here, I did!  It has been suggested that I
>>>cannot inflate fringes because I am being inconsistent with the
>>>institutional published estimated rate.  I say poppycock!  I used the
>>>published estimated rate and added a bit!  That's what you do to protect
>>>your investigators budget.
>>>
>>> What say you??
>>>
>>> Terri L. Fayle
>>> Senior Grant Specialist
>>> K-State Research & Extension Proposal Services Waters Hall 105C Kansas
>>> State University Manhattan, KS 66506-4008 xxxxxx@k-state.edu
>>>
>>> Voice 785-532-7255
>>> FAX 785-532-5549
>>> Cell 660-238-7165
>>>
>>>
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