Deans, administrators begin to find out just how much money they have to cut out of their budgets.
Administrators at Kansas University are receiving instructions from Provost David Shulenburger's office for cutting budgets to meet Gov. Bill Graves' orders.
Graves last week asked state agencies to cut their budgets by 1 percent to meet an expected revenue shortfall of $73 million.
The cut affects state general fund money. For KU in this fiscal year, state general funds make up $130 million out of a $210 million general use funds budget. General use funds include state general funds and tuition and fees.
KU must cut 1 percent of the state general fund or $1.3 million. In addition, the university must make up for a $700,000 increase in health care costs. The total cut for KU is $2 million.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said instructions to the administrators require academic units to cut spending by a little less than 1 percent; administrative units must cut their spending by a little more than 1 percent.
"What we will say to the units is here's the amount of money you have to cut," Hemenway said. "They have to identify where the funds come from."
The letters also tell the administrators that a hiring freeze is in place until the moneys needed for the cut are earmarked.
Deans also are being instructed not to do anything that would cut enrollment, which would reduce tuition income and compound the loss in money.
Sally Frost Mason, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, received the letter late Monday afternoon.
She sees a two-fold problem.
First, there is the immediate need to cut $554,000 from her $40 million state general fund budget.
Sounds easy in abstract, but $38 million is committed to salaries for people who are on contract for the year. That leaves just $2 million in operating expenses from the state general fund for the college, which has 53 units, 600 faculty members and serves 50 percent of the student body.
"The governor seems to think it is going to be easy to find money to cut," Frost Mason said. "Right now, there is not very much flexibility.
"We have to come up with this between now and Jan. 1."
For this year, there is possibility of putting off improvement projects, such as office renovations or other building improvements.
More worrisome for Frost Mason is the idea that the cut may be permanent to the base budget for the college.
If it is permanent, "it's going to be difficult to keep faculty," she said.
David Ambler, vice chancellor of student affairs, is assuming the cut is permanent.
Of $3 million in state general fund money, Ambler believes the student affairs division has to cut about $40,000.
"If you freeze positions, for a temporary solution that's fine," Ambler said. "It won't get you permanent dollars."
Ambler expects reductions in services this year because of the cut.
Like most of the administrators at KU, Ambler received the instructions Tuesday and was only beginning to weigh various possibilities for meeting the goals.
-- Erwin Seba's phone message number is 832-7145. His e-mail address is eseba@ljworld.com.
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