News Library
EXPECTED CUT OF $4.1 MILLION HAS UB WORRIED
Published on November 7, 1999
Author: LOU MICHEL and T.J. PIGNATARO
© The Buffalo News Inc.
The University at Buffalo could see at least a $4.1 million shortfall in its 1999-2000 operating budget, which is causing concern among its leaders, professors and students facing the prospect of program cuts.
The anticipated reduction -- blamed chiefly on the State Legislature's failure to provide funding for negotiated salary raises and inflationary cost increases -- proves there is no end in sight to a 15-year trend in state aid reductions, officials say. The anticipated decrease has heightened concern among many UB professors and students, who believe Gov. Pataki and the State Legislature are intent on eroding public financial support to the nation's largest state university system. At the center of that 64-campus system is UB, the biggest of the State University of New York's institutions of higher learning. With 5,000 employees and 25,000 students, it is a significant economic engine for Western New York. "What's happening at UB is symptomatic of what's happening throughout the system. A $400,000 shortfall at a state college could be an even larger problem than the $4.1 million reduction (at UB). That smaller college has less flexibility," said one UB official, who asked to remain anonymous. "The situation is not limited to UB. All SUNY campuses have suffered in the last 15 years." The anticipated $4.1 million cut would leave UB with a $231.1 million allocation in state funds, representing a 2 percent reduction in state funding over the course of a year. The exact amount of state financial support for UB and other state campuses is expected to be determined Nov. 16, when members of SUNY's Board of Trustees meet at UB. And while layoffs and campuswide hiring freezes are possible, UB officials said they expect to seek better ways to blunt the impact of the lost state income. "We're going to take (program) reductions," UB President William R. Greiner said. "The whole of the campus is squeezed. The deans and vice presidents are going through a drill now to try to spread the reductions across the various units." Because of the tardiness of the state budget, the university, only a month away from completing its first semester, does not have its 1999-2000 spending plan in place. "This is one of the effects of a very late budget," Greiner said. "It is an awful difficulty for the deans. People were expecting a better year and made commitments, and when it comes in less, it makes it difficult." Greiner last week scuttled a rumor that the institution faced a $10 million cut in state aid, instead estimating the drop at closer to $4.1 million. That amount would include the loss of $500,000 in state aid because UB failed to meet enrollment target for 1998-99. In addition, the SUNY budget adopted by the Legislature in August failed to include funding to cover inflationary costs and salary adjustments, Greiner said. Because of "the failure of the executive and Legislature to agree on a number of SUNY issues," Greiner said, SUNY has to identify a one-time revenue source of $32 million to cover costs for all campuses. The situation, he added, is particularly devastating for UB's many libraries, where an extra $500,000 is needed to cover inflationary costs of materials, especially periodicals, which have skyrocketed in cost. The total shortfall in covering inflationary costs at UB is estimated at $1.1 million. Fiscal hard times are nothing new to SUNY, based on the findings of a 1997 assessment of the system. SUNY, which suffered from budget cuts for several years before Pataki took office, was 15 to 20 percent smaller in terms of faculty and staff in 1997 than it was 15 years previously, the study found. "The biggest single factor, I think, is the demoralization. Going on 13 years now we've had some form of base budget takeout at our campus," Greiner said. The number of full-time professors at UB also has dropped in the past several years, mirroring a SUNY-wide trend. Since 1992, more than 1,600 full-time educators have left the system, according to United University Professions, the union representing SUNY professors and professional staff. The UB official who spoke on condition of anonymity said faculty protests over funding cutbacks have been muted because of a recent contract settlement providing United University Professions members with a 12.5 percent pay increase over three years. The UB officials also noted tuition has not gone up this year and funding for the popular Tuition Assistance Program has increased. Despite the budget problem, Greiner said he has heard no discussion from Albany about a tuition hike. Greiner is holding out hope that Albany may consider supplemental aid appropriations to overcome the budgetary shortfall. A number of UB students conducted a protest about cutbacks Oct. 26 when Pataki attended a grand-opening ceremony for the university's new Center for Computational Research. Students carried signs criticizing his policies governing SUNY.BILL WIPPERT/Buffalo NewsUB students battle gusty winds to get their message across during Gov. Pataki's recent visit.
<
Search again:
