Budget forum sheds little light on upcoming cuts

UNO Chancellor John Christensen provided little detail but said all options are being considered for the projected 2010-11 budget cuts at a forum on Nov. 19. Christensen said he did not have any specifics from central administration or the Board of Regents and would not receive any "system-arching orders" until January, but he still wanted to hold the forum to keep the process as transparent as possible.

"The forum had been planned with the assumption the Legislature's special session would be over, but that is not the case," Christensen said. "But we will share the information as we promised all along, for you to know what we know."

Christensen, accompanied by Terry Hynes, senior vice chancellor of academic and student affairs and Bill Conley, vice chancellor for business and finance, presented the reasons behind the shortfall, as well as several options in dealing with the cuts.

In addition to the $2.2 million shortfall in the 2009-10 fiscal year and the $2.7 million anticipated shortfall in the 2010-11 fiscal year, UNO faces an additional $3.8 million in cuts over the two-year period. The Appropriations Committee recommended a cut of $1.4 million in 2010 and $2.4 million in 2011.

Governor Dave Heineman recommended a slightly higher cut of $1.4 million in 2010 and $2.7 million in 2011.

A significant portion of the shortfall comes from the pending increases in salaries. UNO is looking at a 1.5 percent pay raise for all faculty, with a 3.8 percent pay raise for all American Association of University Professors faculty.

"[The salary increase] could be maintained, reduced or all-together eliminated, and I don't know whether or not this will happen," Christensen said. "But that would have huge impact as we move forward."

Christensen said the recent 4 percent tuition hike was not enough. Though he cared about access and the financial load students carry, he said it was his "personal hope" that the Board of Regents consider another tuition increase.

He said if the regents raised tuition 6 percent instead of 4 percent, the change would cut an additional $4 million from the entire NU system shortfall. An increase of 8 percent would reduce the deficit by $8 million.

"That is a slippery slope, because we have been very competitive, we want to provide access, as many of our students are first-generation, underrepresented students for whom the fiscal challenges are many and are great, and we don't want to take anyone out of play," he said. "At the same time, the state revenue continues to trend down and we have to have a sustainable operation, so that's the end of the day."

The UNO Budget Advisory Task Force will meet on Dec. 2 to further explain the situation and provide new budget details or information, specifically from the since adjourned special legislative session.

After Jan. 1, efforts to address the fiscal 2011 shortfalls will be made, which Conley said concerns him more than the current situation.

"The challenge for the next biennium looks possibly and likely worse as the federal stimulus dollars come in and are no longer going to be available and will need to be replaced in some fashion," he said.

Christensen, Hynes and Conley all stressed the decentralizing of the decision-making process and the importance of empowering deans and supervisors to put forward recommendations.

"We are trying to do our best to keep decision-making decentralized where we can do that, so that we're not making decisions at just the chancellor's level or at the [vice chancellor] level," Hynes said. "We are trying to make sure that the college level retains the ability to be able to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the colleges, of the other units on campus, so we can move forward in the best possible way, because those [who] are the nearest to the ground, closest to the front lines, will know the pulse of what we are doing.