The Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees has approved a contract for the college’s newly hired president, Paul Killpatrick.

Killpatrick’s three-year contract with the college will be reviewed yearly. His base salary is $198,000, and he also will receive a $1,000 housing allowance per month and a $625 monthly car allowance.

Killpatrick, who is leaving his post as president of Great Basin College in Elko, Nev., will start his new job July 1.

Former LTCC president Guy Lease’s base salary was $165,921, and that also came with allowances. With base salaries and allowances included, Killpatrick’s contract amounts to about $45,000 more per year than Lease’s.

Killpatrick also will be reimbursed up to $10,000 for moving expenses.

Chris Janzen, LTCC vice president of business services, said nothing in the college’s budget is being cut to support this contract. The money is coming from the remaining funds in the budget’s general fund, which can be used to pay for new expenses and salary increases.

The contract boils down to supply and demand, said Eric Sturgess, LTCC Academic Faculty Senate president, who also is a business and economics instructor.

“There are only so many Killpatricks, and if that’s what the market will bear, that’s the price,” Sturgess said.

On the issue of salaries, Sturgess said faculty members are mainly concerned about the disparity between LTCC faculty pay and that at other California community colleges.

The issue also should be addressed for classified staff and administrators, Sturgess said.

Killpatrick’s contract is a competitive contract in California, Janzen said. Because Lease had held the president’s position for such a long time, the salary remained lower than it would have if the college were trying to recruit someone new for the position, he said.