December 5, 2002
Last June when we distributed budget allocations to each major unit we held back centrally funds to offset a 1% General Fund mid-year rescission during FY 2003 and asked each unit to be prepared to accommodate an additional 4% reduction to its budget allocation during FY 2003.
Approximately $1.7 million in additional tuition revenue generated because of the rate increase was used to help offset the budget problems when budget allocations were made last June.
In response to this early warning of possible mid-year rescissions, virtually all major units deliberately held vacant positions open and deferred discretionary non-salary purchases.
Early in the Fall semester, Jim Coffman, Tom Rawson, Sue Peterson and John Struve began a series of meetings with the faculty, administrators and student leadership of every academic college, each major support area, Faculty Senate, Student Senate and Classified Senate to discuss the state’s financial situation and the implications for K-State’s budget. These discussions were based on a PowerPoint presentation that has now been put on the web (http://www.ksu.edu/vpaf).
Midway through the Fall semester, the central administration worked with Faculty Senate Leadership to draft a set of principles and a process that would guide possible budget reductions for Fiscal Year 2004. The principles include those developed by the Board of Regents and several others unique to K-State. The process outlined in the document was initiated at a combined meeting of Faculty Senate Leadership, Academic Deans and Department Heads on November 21. A similar presentation was made to Classified Senate in early December. This document has also been put on the web (http://www.ksu.edu/provost/budget).
After extensive campus consultation, K-State is developing a onetime retirement incentive program for unclassified employees in ESARP. If implemented, this initiative would become an additional tool to help Extension Systems and Agriculture Research Programs (ESARP) since it has no tuition revenue to help stabilize its budget. The program is being reviewed with university attorneys (who will also review it with the Board’s General Counsel). If the university decides to implement such a onetime program an explanatory letter will be sent Board members and to he CEO’s of the other Regents universities prior to public announcement.
Specific examples of budget reductions that have been made or will be made in the immediate future include the following: