Perlman

NU campuses implementing shortfall plans

By: Scott Stewart

Posted: 6/23/09

The University of Nebraska system began implementing plans to cover budget shortfalls last week after the Board of Regents approved the university-wide budget on June 12.

Plans were announced at UNL and UNMC, while it still remained unknown Friday how UNO and UNK would address an overall NU systemwide budget shortfall of $8.5 million.

UNL's plan to address its $3.7 million share of the university budget shortfall includes the proposed elimination of 56 full-time positions across the campus.

The recommended cuts include the elimination of the equivalent of about 23 filled staff positions, which could result in pink slips in the near future for 28 UNL employees. The cuts also remove more than 29 vacant staff positions, as well as three vacant faculty positions.

At a news conference Wednesday, Chancellor Harvey Perlman said the campus targeted the cuts to periphery programs in order to preserve the core missions of the university.

"These budget cuts are painful," Perlman said. "It may appear a lot of little ones, but they have real life impacts to people who are impacted by them."

The employees whose positions will be eliminated were notified Wednesday morning by the university, although official notice of termination won't be given until Aug. 24, according to an e-mail sent out to all faculty and staff by Perlman.

"Laying off employees in this economy is particularly difficult," Perlman said. "Over the summer, we will work hard to find these dedicated staff alternative positions within the university. We will be providing affected personnel with special services from human resources to help them with this transition."

The breakdown of the cuts at UNL include more than $680,000 in reductions to units administered by the Chancellor's Office, Student Affairs and Business & Finance; $1 million in cuts to the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and $2.1 million in reductions to Academic Affairs programs.

The proposed cuts will not be finalized until after a review by the Academic Planning Committee, a process not expected to be completed until fall. Complete details about the UNL budget reductions is available online at unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/2009budget.

At UNMC, Chancellor Harold Maurer announced Wednesday that the equivalent of 23.8 full-time positions would be impacted over the next two years by the campus's $1.7 million share of the shortfall.

"About half of the positions were vacant as they were held open as employees separated or transferred during the past six months," Spokeswoman Vicky Cerino said. "For the remaining positions, UNMC will try to find non-state aided funding to support them as these are critical positions for an academic medical center."

All of the positions impacted at UNMC are staff positions, Cerino said. The campus would not further elaborate on the specifics of the positions affected until its final budget proposal is announced in August.

At UNO, no announcement has yet been made about how the campus will reallocate as much as $2.2 million to cover its share of the university budget shortfall, spokeswoman Wendy Townley said on Friday.

Chancellor John Christensen, however, will host a campus budget forum this Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service Building's Collaborating Commons. Joining him will be Budget Advisory Task Force co-chairs Terry Hynes and Bill Conley.

Christensen is expected to outline the campus budget, which is facing a more significant share of the overall university shortfall than the other three NU campuses - with the overall campus budget being reduced 2 percent, compared with only 1.1 percent at UNL and UNMC.

UNO's share of the shortfall is the greatest because the campus faculty won a larger compensation increase than the rest of the university as a result of collective bargaining.

The university is currently appealing the results of arbitration with the faculty union, the UNO chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations is expected to issue a decision in early July.

If the university wins the appeal, UNO's shortfall would reduce by $472,000 - leaving the campus with a 1.6 percent overall shortfall stemming primarily from still-higher faculty compensation increases.

"UNO's budgetary planning process for this year has not been easy, but I do know the work that has gone into finding cost-savings, making contingency plans and outlining options has all been helpful, Christensen said in an e-mail on June 15. "Continued conservation of dollars will be critical for the second year of the biennium, as well."