Budget Update from President McDavis
Sent via e-mail by President Roderick J. McDavis June 11, 2009
Dear Members of the Ohio University Community,
Last week, the Ohio Senate passed its version of the state budget bill for the next biennium. While the Senate bill differed significantly from the House version, it continued to make higher education a top priority. Yesterday, the House rejected the Senate version of the bill and a Conference Committee was named to negotiate a compromise bill for the Governor's signature.
As we await word from Columbus on the level of state support Ohio University will receive in the coming year, I am working to finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget recommendations I will make to the Board of Trustees at its June 25th and 26th meetings.
Through disciplined and thorough planning, we have been able to prepare a budget for the Board's consideration that focuses on the priorities and goals established by the University community in its Vision OHIO plan. I am writing today to share with you the specifics of the budget recommendations and will continue to keep you informed as we work through the budget process.
The budget proposal I will take to the Board of Trustees calls for an additional $2.9 million in the coming year for Vision OHIO initiatives, including support for the colleges of Health and Human Services and Arts and Sciences to support our new four-year nursing degree program, which begins this fall. Additional dollars will be dedicated to expand our highly successful Learning Communities, the Allen Student Help Center, and supplemental instruction. Other significant investments in Vision Ohio initiatives, including $400,000 support for Enrollment Management efforts, have been made through targeted reallocations.
The FY 2010 budget proposal provides an additional $5.2 million in scholarships and financial aid for our students and an increase of $500,000 to support the Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs, which has been hard hit by state budget cuts.
The proposed budget will provide an increase of $181,000 for faculty promotions and an increase of $203,000 for summer session instruction.
The FY 2010 budget recommendation also includes $4.1 million to support the Network Infrastructure and Student Information System initiatives. These investments are supported by $1.8 million in projected revenue from a recently approved student fee and $2.3 million from general program reallocations made possible through administrative cost reductions.
The FY 2010 budget recommendations I will make to the Board include the allocation of $30.4 million in General Fee revenues, including one-time support of $700,000 made available for reallocation, thanks to operational changes within the Division of Student Affairs under the leadership of Vice President Kent Smith.
Included in my recommendation for allocation of General Fee revenues is $300,000 in one-time support for Arts for OHIO. Other specifics include increases of $120,000 to the Marching 110 for uniforms, instruments and travel, $220,000 to Campus Recreation to avoid pay-to-play fees and to maintain services, and $100,000 to the Student Activities Commission for programming. In addition, I am recommending increased funding of $6,000 to Disability Services for assistive technologies, $4,000 to Student Senate to support its operations, $150,000 to the Graduate College to reduce the fee burden for its students, and $100,000 to Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) to maintain existing sports.
I will also recommend to the Board of Trustees that the University increase base support to ICA by $873,000 to move the unit toward a balanced budget. Like all University planning units, ICA has reduced its expenditures and made other changes, including layoffs, to reduce its expenditures by more than $506,000 in FY 2010. These efforts will reduce ICA's budget shortfall to $947,000, and ICA will strive to further reduce the deficit by an additional $500,000 through a combination of revenue enhancements and cost reductions. My recommendation to increase support for ICA will help the department reach its long-term goals.
The University's budget development work over the past several months has been difficult for all of us. It has required intense efforts to find ways to preserve our focus on students through reduction of administrative costs. From a combination of administrative restructuring, elimination of vacant positions, implementation of an early retirement option for eligible Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) participants, changes to our health plan, and layoffs, we have reduced the FY 2010 University budget by $13.5 million.
While the most painful part of these changes has been saying goodbye to valued colleagues, I am pleased to report that through early retirements and effective communication and collaboration between University Human Resources and units throughout the University, the actual number of layoffs has been reduced from 107 to 58. The breakdown of layoffs as it currently stands is 28 administrators, 3 classified non-bargaining unit staff, and 27 AFSCME staff. The early retirement option remains open to eligible OPERS participants through August 30th, continuing the potential for even further reduction in the total number of layoffs.
I will continue to inform you of budget developments, including finalization of the State budget. Thank you for all that you continue to do for Ohio University and its students.
Cordially,
Roderick J. McDavis
President
Related link:
