By Joseph Barrios
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Arizona Board of Regents approved $814 million in budget proposals from the state's three universities Friday as the proposed new state campus took another step toward inception.
The board cut $3 million off of the University of Arizona's $7.9 million request to fund the new Pima County campus. Funding for the new campus includes hiring instructors, library acquisitions and equipment.
The new Pima County campus is expected to absorb part of the 55,000 new students expected to enter the Arizona university system by the year 2010.
The campus, temporarily located in the former IBM complex on South Rita Road, is expected to support about 1,000 new undergraduate students between Fall 1996 and Fall 1998.
UA President Manuel T. Pacheco said he appointed Celestino Fernandez, UA Vice President of Academic Outreach and International Affairs, to begin recruiting faculty and staff from the UA and other institutions to cultivate the new campus. The recruitment process should begin this week, Pacheco said.
Overall, the UA requested a budget total of $300,818,800 for the main campus in 1995-96, about $27,242,900 more than the 1994-95 year's budget. The Arizona Health Sciences Center, which includes the College of Medicine, requested $53,245,400 Ä about $4,987,700 more than this year.
All three state universities requested a total of about $814,900,000 for the '95-96 fiscal year Ä an 11.7 percent increase from the 1994-95 budget.
Regents John Munger and Judy Gignac questioned whether the universities should submit budget requests that did not follow legislative suggestions. The legislature asked all state agencies to submit budgets for the 1996 fiscal year no more than 5 percent larger than 1995 fiscal year budgets. Munger said ignoring the "5 percent" guidelines could make negotiations with legislature more difficult.
Pacheco said the budget presented to the board included requests for the most crucial projects. He said universities were now concentrating on strengthening infrastructure.
The proposal will be presented to the Joint Legis-lative Budget Committee and the governor's office, both of which will make recommendations to the Arizona State Legislature. The legislature has final say over the state budget.
About $2.4 million was requested to expand the Sierra Vista campus' Evening and Weekend Program, distance learning technologies and Video Campus. Funding for the Pima County campus and the UA's Sierra Vista campus is separate.