by Charles Nash and Myrna Hays
On May 14, reacting to a $5.7 billion deterioration in the state’s fiscal condition, the Governor proposed reducing the University’s General Fund augmentation for 2001-2002 from an original (January) figure of $202.5M to $185.8M. Some of the changes are discussed below.
Proposed increases beyond the original appropriations included:
· $100.6M to address increases in natural gas costs. This includes $55.9M in onetime funds to address current year costs. These funds are also available to promote conservation consistent with the Governor’s goal of reducing peak-load energy use by state agencies by 20 percent.
· $12.8M to fund a projected enrollment increase of 1,400 full-time equivalent students. This brings total budgeted enrollment growth, including summer enrollment, to 10,522 FTE students.
Proposed Reductions: The change from the January budget which will clearly have greatest impact on the faculty is an $89.9M reduction in the so-called partnership budget. IF the Legislature concurs, the effect of these cuts will be:
· A reduction of $47M in the compensation and benefits budget.
· A reduction of $29M in the budgets for maintenance, equipment, instructional technology, and libraries
· A reduction of $8M which was originally proposed to effect a small reduction in the UC student/faculty ratio.
· A loss of $5M in inflation adjustment funding.
Faculty Salary Impact: The $47M figure mentioned above would have funded faculty and staff merit promotions, a 2% COLA for all employees, and a 1% parity adjustment for faculty and eligible staff. Having learned a lesson from 1991-92, UC has stated that merits and promotions will not be affected. Building that firewall will leave 0.5% or less for COLAs.
These issues are currently before the Legislature. Further reductions could occur because the Governor’s proposed budget leaves only $1 billion in reserve. CUCFA has been lobbying strongly for faculty salary increases and other interests, and we will continue to do so.