Administration prepares for more budget cuts

Corey Benson

The Signal Staff

University administrators are developing a plan in response to a letter received last month from state officials requesting all state agencies reduce their budgets 5 percent for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The request came from Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Speaker of the House Joe Straus and is due in the Office of the Governor’s Budget, Planning, and Policy division by Feb. 15.

“At this point, we’ve been asked to prepare a reduction plan for the state, and it is just that – a plan,” said Michelle Dotter, vice president for administration and finance.  “The proposed budget cut is approximately $1.5 million for fiscal year 2010 and the same for fiscal year 2011.”

The total budget for fiscal year 2010 is $105,539,085, which includes an operating budget of $89,239,402. This cut is based only on the state allocation, not on the total university budget of $105 million.

In a meeting with vice-presidents, associate vice presidents, deans and directors, President William Staples discussed many of the challenges the budget cuts will pose and how the University will respond to those challenges.

“Over the years, this university has gone from being a state supported institution, to one that is merely state assisted,” Staples said. “State budget cuts in 2003 were comparatively more of a challenge from a budget perspective because the dollar amount was greater; yet, we managed to sustain excellent academic programming and student services.”

The University receives funds from the state based on enrollment.

“The good news is enrollment is up; we budgeted for flat enrollment, so the growth in enrollment will help cushion the $1.5 million loss,” Staples said.

The state of Texas has no income tax, unlike many other states and relies heavily on state sales tax.

“State sales taxes have not been positive since Jan. 2009. The real challenge comes when faced with cutting 5 percent in the middle of the fiscal year, when funding that was anticipated for upcoming expenditures may not be available. It requires quite a bit of discussion and consideration to reduce budgets in a way that will minimize the impact on the university’s commitment to academic excellence and student success,” Staples said.

Staples also said in the meeting that there were no layoffs in 2003 and, at 5 percent, layoffs are not presented as an option to reduce the budget.

The reduction may have a university-wide impact; however, the 5 percent cut is not across the board. Administrators anticipate departments reporting to the president and the vice president for administration and finance will be affected more so than the departments under the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

“Although all three components are vital to the success of the university, academic affairs’ offices and the schools have more immediate and direct impact on our students,” Dotter said.

“The president and provost have made it clear that if we are forced to return funds to the state, instruction would be hurt the least, followed by services directly relating to students,” added Darlene Biggers, associate vice president for student services.

Several increases in tuition and student fees have been proposed for the upcoming fiscal year.

“We have proposed a tuition and fee increase that has been approved in our shared governance committees and will be presented to Finance Committee of the Board of Regents on Feb. 10 and then to the full Board of Regents on Feb. 16,” said Jean Carr, executive director of budget.

The president will be addressing designated tuition, spending priority list proposals and funding issues in a series of two Town Hall Meetings.

“The Town Hall Meetings, which will be held Feb. 17 at noon and Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. in the SSCB Student Lounge will provide students the opportunity to have their questions answered,” said Amanda Schoolcraft, Student Government Association vice president for communication and outreach. “SGA strongly encourages every student and member of the UHCL community to attend one of the meetings. These meetings give students the opportunities to voice their ideas, opinions and concerns directly to the policy-makers on campus.”

For more information regarding the Town Hall Meetings, contact Amanda Schoolcraft at 281-283-2556 or sga@uhcl.edu.