Likins attacks gubernatorial proposal

Gov. Jane Dee Hull has requested that UA submit plans today for how it could cut an additional $30 million from this year's budget to pay for salary increases and recoup about $100 million of the state's swelling deficit.

Arguing that Hull is using the request to prove that the state cannot afford previously promised salary increases, University of Arizona President Peter Likins denounced the proposed scenarios as the most recent "strike" on the university's funding in a series of cuts beginning in April.

"Now she's simply trying to authenticate and she had to be really, really rough," Likins said. "It's shocking and, of course, it's designed to be. The governor's got a tough situation here."

If the proposed cuts were adopted by the state Legislature, they would be the largest funding reduction UA has experienced since 1994, when the department of journalism was nearly eliminated.

He added that he did not know whether the university would respond to the request today, as it is too large a task to complete in four business days.

All state agencies were notified in a Thrusday letter that they must prepare plans for 9 percent cuts across the board: 5 percent to save the pay increases approved last spring and 4 percent to cushion a growing revenue shortfall.

The Departments of Education and Corrections were not asked to present a plan for any cuts except to cover the salary hike.

"The governor is working from a premise that corrections and K-12 (education) are sacred cows, off the table," UA Budget Director Dick Roberts said.

Neither Hull nor any of her staff could be reached for comment by press time.

University administrators have deferred decisions concerning their response to Arizona Board of Regents executive director Linda Blessing, though Likins said the administration is hoping for an extension.

In his November State of the University address, Likins said, "a cut that exceeds 4 percent · will so shatter the confidence of our faculty and key staff that they will give up on the university and go away."

Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the College of Science, said last year that an 8 percent cut could force him to eliminate entire academic departments.

Hull's request is the most recent move in a battle being waged to cut this year's state budget $197 million after the elimination of about $675 million by the Legislature last fall in response to the state's wilting revenue sources. UA returned about $16 million as part of the November budget reductions, according to documents released by the university.

Blessing is expected to contact Hull's office today to find out if a response is required, Likins said. If so, the university will submit details of how it cut its budget last fall to quantify the impact it will have on UA's employees and services. Sixty-nine university employees were eliminated in those reductions.

Anything UA can send to Hull's office is likely to be "quick and dirty," university lobbyist Greg Fahey said. "If we have to respond, it will be a one-or-two page document. We're not going to abdicate any department or college."

Of the proposed cuts, more than $17 million, between the main campus and Health Science Center budgets, would be yielded for the pay raises.

Lawmakers approved salary increases for all state employees last spring. Under the plan, employees, including those at UA, would be paid 5 percent or $1,500 salary increase - whichever is greater.

Faculty leaders have expressed concern because a plan approved by Likins would only guarantee faculty only $1,500 - not 5 percent. Other staff and personnel would fall under the original plan.

Roberts said Hull's office is asking, "What would be the effect of the Legislature allowing the April 1, 5 percent salary increase to come into being; but what would you do if it's not funded?"

About $13 million would go toward the state's deficit, which Hull estimates in her letter to be about $1 billion.

In Hull's scenarios, the three state universities have been slated for about $70 million of the $200 million in cuts, according to documents released by UA. Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and UA, by Arizona statute, are considered "discretionary" agencies and can have their funding cut more dramatically without risking the loss of a large amount of federal funds by the state, Likins said.

About 40 percent of the state's agencies fall in that category, he added, and are usually tapped when the state needs to trim its budget.

Likins said the university has been experiencing one funding reduction after another since Hull vetoed UA's building renewal fund in April, a loss of about $15 million.

"Some of those funds were for buildings we were opening," he said.

Also included in this year's now-slashed budget were decision packages with funds intended for a number of departments and projects, including about $1 million for the Health Sciences Center and $400,000 to increase pay and decrease workloads for Teaching Assistants, Likins said.

With the 4 percent already removed last fall, the present scenarios, and what is likely to be cut from the 2003 budget on top, UA could see about $70 million taken from it's budget in just a few months.

"If you add it all up and compare it to where we were one year ago, it's really threatening," Likins said.