The possibility of budget reductions is very real for Kansas University officials, but nothing will be decided for the next couple of months.
An optional budget sent to the governor each year by state universities is usually viewed as a meaningless bureaucratic exercise.
This year may be different.
Kansas University and Board of Regents officials are wondering whether that optional budget, called the reduced resources package, may become a blueprint for the next fiscal year.
It's a blueprint that would cut spending at KU by nearly $8 million, wiping out, among other things, promised faculty salary increases.
Kim Wilcox, executive director for the regents, said he believes Gov. Bill Graves and the Legislature want to honor promises made last session to increase faculty salaries and other financing for higher education.
"I'm still optimistic they'll maintain their commitment," Wilcox said.
But after Graves requested a 1 percent cut in state agency budgets last week, Wilcox was tempering that optimism.
"We should think about the reduced resources budget more seriously," he said.
Every September, each state agency turns in budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, to the Division of the Budget in the Kansas Department of Administration. Actually, three budgets are sent. One is called the enhancement package, which includes everything the agency would like to do in the coming year and outlines how much it would cost.
"It's a wish list," said Cindy Denton, an analyst in the budget office.
For the next fiscal year, KU's wish list totals $228 million in general use funds, which include state general fund money, tuition and fees. This fiscal year, KU was allocated $210.8 million in general use funds.
The second budget sent is known as the current service estimate. It's an accounting of what it would take to keep all existing programs running with adjustments for changes in costs.
For fiscal year 2001, KU is requesting $214.7 million.
The last budget submitted is the reduced resources package.
Denton said the Budget Division issues instructions on how much should be cut from the reduced resources package. This year, the budget office is basing its instructions for reductions on a $73.4 million shortfall in the state general fund at the end of the 1999 fiscal year on June 30.
For the next fiscal year, the reduced resources package would cut $7.9 million from the current services estimate for the next fiscal year, according to documents from the regents office. The budget requests are "kind of like a menu with contingency plans," Denton said.
In years past, governors and legislators have tended to ignore the reduced resources package.
"The reduced resources package is intended to give the governor some options," said Marvin Burris, budget director for the regents. "In actual practice, usually the governor and the Legislature work from the current services budget."
Burris has been with the regents office for 20 years.
By mid-November KU will know better what the budgets may like look. At that time, Budget Director Duane Goosen will release his formal recommendations to all state agencies.
KU will have a month to appeal to Graves, who will begin preparing his budget request, which will be submitted to the Legislature when it meets in January.
Also in November, the revenue estimating group will meet to again assess expectations for revenue in the coming year.
Until then, KU officials will watch and wait. Speaking on the same day Graves ordered the budget cut, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said, "These events today may have some impact on the budget requests that have been turned in. We need to watch what the ongoing revenue situation is for the state."
-- Erwin Seba's phone message number is 832-7144. His e-mail address is eseba@ljworld.com.
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