Even with the semester well underway, Kansas University employees still don’t know whether they’re getting raises this year.

KU is tentatively planning for some raises but won’t bestow them until the threat of last-minute state budget cuts this semester has passed.

Money reserved for raises would “reward excellence in teaching, research, and leadership, and to target retention of key faculty and staff,” according to KU’s proposed fiscal year 2016 (ending June 2016) operating budget.

KU budgeted the midyear, merit-based salary increases for select employees, according to Provost Jeff Vitter. He said the planned raises would comprise roughly 1 percent of the university’s salary budget.

“While not as large a pool as we would like, it will help us recognize continued excellence,” Vitter wrote in a recent memo to KU faculty and staff. “The ability to extend increases will depend upon a small number of factors, most notably avoiding additional state budget cuts. We will make final decisions later in the semester.”

Vitter noted that many employees had asked about raises and that he appreciated their patience in the meantime.

State general fund dollars to KU remained flat from the previous year, in the budget the Kansas Legislature approved this summer after a contentious, record-long session. However, if needed to offset lower than anticipated revenues, allotment cuts could be made in coming months.

Last week the Department of Revenue reported the state collected $31 million less in taxes than anticipated for September, and some critics of Gov. Sam Brownback predicted he might in fact be forced into another round of budget cuts.

Raises already have been implemented for certain KU staff members affected by KU’s Classification and Market Study, which was implemented in four phases between November 2013 and July of this year, according to a written budget summary from KU.

The study included redesigning salary structures “to better reflect the hiring market,” according to KU. As positions were reviewed, employees whose pay was lower than the newly established minimum were raised to the minimum.

In June, The Kansas Board of Regents — citing a desire to keep university CEO salaries competitive in the market — approved 2 percent raises to the base pay of KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and other state university presidents. That raised Gray-Little’s salary to $510,040, an increase of $10,000.