UVA’s budget has been cut by about 7% which accounts for about $10 million of the $160 million state budget allocation. While the state only accounts for about 8% of UVA’s budget [ref], this still means that UVA won’t fill 11 open positions. Additionally, this will delay the State’s planned 2% salary increases.
Layoffs aren’t going to happen, but this cut shoudn’t be thought of as the end to that fear.
The UVA budget cut is part of a much larger plan from Virginia Governer Tim Kaine. In 2009, Virginia expects budget shortfalls of nearly $1 billion. In order to combat the shortfall, Kaine plans 578 job cuts, a salary freeze on all state employees, across the board education cuts and more. A detailed list is after the break:
- About 570 layoffs, the elimination of more than 800 additional positions that are currently unfilled, holding about one-third of all at-will positions vacant, and the imposition of a continued freeze on new hiring.
- The delay of a previously planned 2% salary increase for state employees, to July 2009 from November 2008.
- Reductions of 5 or 7 percent to institutions of higher education.
- Administrative efficiencies in Medicaid, the Department of Aging, and Community Service Boards that will prevent deeper cuts in direct service delivery.
- Restructuring Department of Corrections facilities, closing several older facilities.
- Previously announced reductions in the Governor’s office and mansion budget, including a continued reduction in the Governor’s own salary.
It looks like we are a little closer to our predictions for things that could really hurt the Charlottesville economy.
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Tagged as: crisis, economy, job cuts, Jobs, UVA, Virginia
The unnecessarily high gas prices in Charlottesville will continue to hurt the local economy. Waldo has a nice little post on it over at cvillenews.
“Kaine will hold fewer official events at the governor’s mansion. And those will feature lower-quality beer and wine and a less exquisite range of food. The cooks will be encouraged to use ‘leftovers’.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100801587_pf.html
UVA has a $5.1 Billion endowment - $245,000 per student, the largest of any public university in the world. It apparently averages double digit returns. Perhaps a couple of weeks of the return on that endowment could be used to preserve those positions?? Or perhaps we could begin another $1 Billion campaign and fund a couple hundred new positions, thus dramatically improving the C’ville economy. Let’s start the campaign - what would your recommendations be for brand new positions at UVA? I vote for an new position answering directly to the president, “Director of Obfuscation and Perpetuation of Endowment Scam”
Uh, given the recent activity in the stock market, those “double digit returns” are a thing of the past…
@3 - and you’re completely up to date on exactly what it takes to run a “world class public university”.
/don’t see your name on the board of visitors, or the budget office personnel roster.
//what gives, people? I understand your need for additional information, but to ridicule those who bravely take on these responsibilities without any iota of the facts, blows. You infer exactly what you blow. I’ll leave it up to your imagination, of which you are obviously well-endowed….
@5 Not a member of board of visitors, but completely up to date on my comments, said nothing about “world class public university”, but, then, maybe that was my well-endowed imagination……
The great irony about this shortfall is that you HAVE to spend your entire budget for the fiscal year, even if it means buying equipment you don’t need, like $100 worth of pencils. If you don’t spend your entire departmental budget, it looks bad, and you are under threat of having your budget reduced. You can’t, say, hold on to a portion of your budget to build a surplus for times when the economy is bleak. If the university allowed its departments to build surpluses (even if 10-15% of the annual operating cost), we wouldn’t have this problem. But noooo, accountants have to get involved.