AUGUST 27, 2009 ISSUE
ASU Budget Cut 10.2 Percent
“From what we know now, our base budget has been cut by 5.2 percent,” said Greg Lovins, ASU’s interim vice chancellor for business affairs.
As of Monday, ASU has not received its final budget, but Lovins said he received notification of a “temporary reduction of our certified budget” by five percent on Friday, August 14. This additional cut of five percent brings the total budget to 10.2 percent less than last year.
It might be possible if the economy turns around sometime during this fiscal year, which runs through June 30, 2010, for the five percent cut to be decreased, Lovins said.
The 5.2 percent reduction is considered a permanent reduction, he added, and it equates to $7,848,584.
If the five percent cut remains in effect all year, it will be a reduction of approximately $7.4 million, bringing the total reduced funding to more than $15 million.
“The uncertainty is tough to deal with,” he said. “We’re frugal at Appalachian anyway. This means we have to be more frugal. We’re going to be careful about filling vacant positions [and] only purchase materials and supplies as we need them.”
The university will also continue to be “very cautious about how we incur travel expenses,” Lovins said.
For example, “maybe [if there is] a meeting in Raleigh or Chapel Hill, instead of traveling down there and incurring a hotel expense and travel expense, we’ll handle it by a telephone conference or a video conference,” he said.
Faculty members who must travel to present their research at conferences and other events, however, will be allowed as much travel expense as possible.
“We’re going to try to preserve that travel,” Lovins said. “It’s critical to their professional development [and] helping them be effective in the classroom.
“Our first priority is to make sure the classroom experience is protected,” Lovins said.
This may mean that administrative and facility expenses, as well as support services, will need to be cut back, he added.
“We’re [also] going to be very thoughtful about reducing utility expenses,” he said.
“Even before the cuts, we saw ourselves as an efficient university,” Lovins said, adding that hopefully those efficient practices will help the university through this fiscal year.
“We will be good stewards of taxpayers’ money and continue to provide quality education for our students,” he said.
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