Budget cuts may be slightly less than expected
The Utah State Legislature released annual budget estimates Tuesday, and an additional shortfall of $171 million is expected for fiscal year 2009; however, this should not add to the $6 million USU is currently trying to shave from its budget, said Michael Kennedy, special assistant to the president for state and federal relations.
To protect USU and other programs across the state from additional budget cuts, the House of Republican Caucus showed their support Tuesday afternoon to use federal stimulus money and other one time money sources to back fill the budget, Kennedy said. If the House and the Senate agreed to tap into these funding pools, the legislature would ensure that USU is safe from additional cuts this year, he said.
“Depending on how much federal stimulus money comes in, I do not believe (USU) will have any more cuts for fiscal year 2009,” Kennedy said.
Even the $6 million USU is contending with right now is less than the amount the university was originally suppose to have, Kennedy said. In September, the legislature cut the university’s budget by 4 percent, then again by 7.3 percent later in fall semester. Luckily, Kennedy said, the legislature was able to back fill half of the 7.3 percent cut, leaving USU with a much smaller amount to deal with.
Kennedy said the mandatory furlough, which is taking place during spring break, will make up for more than half of the budget cuts this year. The rest will come from small departmental cuts throughout the university, he said.
However, fiscal year 2010 is a different story.
Utah is expected to have a shortfall of $320 million next year, which could leave USU with the task of chopping an additional 15 percent from its budget, Kennedy said.
“We do not have exact numbers yet for next year’s budget,” Kennedy said. “However, the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee recommended that we have a 15 percent budget cut.”
This being said, Kennedy believes the cuts will not add up to the proposed 15 percent.
“It is possible that we’ll have a drastic cut, but I anticipate it will be less than 15 percent,” he said. “There are a lot of tools (the Utah Legislature) has to produce revenue for one year. They have the rainy day funds, additional stimulus money and revenue enhancements, which are essentially tax increases – such as cigarette or gas taxes. With the revenue estimates coming in today, this was the first real day of the legislative session for fiscal year 2010.”
The 15 percent cut, if it is approved, will be in addition to the already existing 4 percent base budget cut USU took in September, Kennedy said. The total cuts would be the new base budget USU will have available to operate on, he said.
Jackson Olsen, ASUSU vice president, said despite these cuts he feels the campaign to save higher education, which involved many students on campus petitioning for a lesser budget cut, has proven to be a success up to this point.
“The numbers we’re looking at now, compared to a month ago, are very favorable for USU. It’s still a cut, and it will still require sacrifices at all levels of the university’s operating budget, but it is far better than the alternative,” Olsen said.
Although the numbers for the 2009 fiscal year have been released, Olsen said the campaign is far from over.
“There are still a lot of key decisions that have yet to be made, and a lot of votes which still need to be cast,” Olsen said. “There is still a lot more work to be done until March 12, which is when the legislative session ends.”
Olsen said the legislative session is only halfway over, and efforts will continue to be made in regards to saving higher education. He said the USU lobbyists have a few more lobbying trips scheduled for the next few weeks, during which they will officially present the USU petition to save higher education.
However, these efforts are geared more toward fiscal year 2010 seeing as the numbers for 2009 are likely to not change, he said.
“They’ve already closed the door on this year’s fiscal budget, so our effort now is directed toward trying to help minimize the effects of the budget cuts on future Aggies,” Olsen said.
–greg.boyles@aggiemail.usu.edu