Budget woes loom in new year

March 6, 2008

The budget news across the state is not good and could potentially become worse in coming months.

We took a $22 million reduction last fall and implemented other initiatives such as a hiring freeze to help offset the state’s revenue shortfall.

We also created a campus Task Force on Cost Reduction and Efficiency, which has recommended several initiatives: a new transcript charge, consolidation of print vendors, transitioning print publications to electronic publications, a comprehensive motor vehicle management plan, and the recently announced direct deposit/ debit card plan. Implementation of these initiatives will continue to be part of our overall strategy.

Additionally, we expect the Legislature to reduce our appropriations by another $16 million this fiscal year. The governor actually has withheld this amount from the semi-monthly payment of appropriations to the university. Taken together and calculated on an annualized basis, this represents more than a $47 million reduction from fiscal year 2007.

We will use several one-time funds to address the $16 million reduction for the remainder of this fiscal year to limit the impact on departments. For this reason, we will not ask colleges and other units to make more cuts this fiscal year.

Even so, we expect another round of appropriation reductions beginning July 1.

At this point, I have asked each vice president and dean prepare a plan to reduce their FY09 state-funded budget by at least 6 percent. I do not anticipate across-the-board reductions. Rather, each unit needs to develop a reduction plan that could support both programmatic and general reductions.

As we move through the legislative session, we will gain a better understanding of the full impact to the campus. But we must prepare now.

This continues to be a very difficult time for our entire community and I appreciate your ongoing team work and collaboration.

For more information, please see http://www.president.ufl.edu/budget-reduction.

J. Bernard Machen
President