Tuesday October 23, 2001

Governor, legislators trying to keep UA budget cut to $13.8 million

UA faculty and staff may have to wait until July 2002 before getting their 5 percent raises, and some higher-paid employees may not receive the pay increase at all, if the state Legislature decides to make cuts in those areas.

A report issued last week by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee put forth these options, along with myriad others, as potential ways to offset a two-year, $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

The state Legislature will convene a special session Nov. 13 to make a final decision on how to allocate these cuts.

Legislators mandated last spring that all state employees would receive these raises in April 2002, but state budget analysts said last week that the state would recover $24 million by delaying those raises to July.

The JLBC report also considered not issuing raises to state employees who make more than $75,000 a year, but did not state how much money that would save.

Other options include delaying raises for state employees until May 2003, or cutting them altogether, said Greg Fahey, University of Arizona associate vice president for government relations.

But Fahey said legislators have been supportive of keeping the 5 percent raises for all state employees.

"There are some potent people that are going to try to hold onto those raises," he said.

Budget analysts considered cutting a portion of funding for UA administration and graduate students and also looked at trimming funding for out-of-state travel expenses and a new building at UA Sierra Vista Campus.

Analysts also considered a 6 percent cut in funding for all Arizona community colleges.

Fahey, who was once a state budget analyst, said the current analysts need to explore every possible area where funding could be cut, so legislators and the governor can explore their options.

"None of this is · final," Fahey said.

Gov. Jane Dee Hull has already asked the UA to cut its budget by 4 percent, or $13.8 million. Administrators have begun to announce how they will fulfill this mandate, but have only cut a small portion of the total figure.

Already, departments such as the Arizona International College and Integrated Learning Center have been victimized, and UA President Peter Likins has indicated that many adjunct faculty will not be rehired when their contracts expire.

The larger question looming over the UA community is whether the state Legislature will ask the UA to hand back 4 percent of its budget, or a larger portion.

"I think we have a real chance to keep the damage to about 4 percent," Fahey said. "It's not a guarantee, but (Governor Jane Dee Hull) has said she'd try, as well as number of members of the legislature.

"Four percent isn't going to be easy, and it is going to cause trouble, but if it gets beyond 4 percent, we have danger of permanent damage to the university."