February 2, 1995: Vol26n15: Pataki budget could cost UB $3.7 million in midyear cuts

Gov. George Pataki on Friday ordered the State University of New York
to cut $25 million from its current budget by June 30, which would
equate to an estimated $3.7 million from UB if assigned on an across
the board basis, and university officials are expecting even deeper
cuts in 1995-96.
	"Everyone is anticipating a very difficult budget," said UB
Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner on Tuesday. "People are kind of
waiting. There's a lot of anticipation, probably more than I've seen
in a decade."
	Both Wagner and Provost Aaron N. Bloch said that while the
mid-year expenditure reduction was expected, university officials were
not prepared for the magnitude of the cut. And they are concerned
about what this means for next year's budget.
	"The size of it was a surprise this late in the academic
year," said Bloch. With only five months left in the 1994-95 fiscal
year, it will be difficult to make an adjustment of this size, he
added.
	"It's a much more significant number than we'd been talking
about and budgeting for," said Wagner.
	According to the senior vice president, SUNY officials were
estimating a one-half percent cut, amounting to an $8 million budget
reduction system-wide. Of that amount, UB officials expected to be
responsible for about $1 million, Wagner said. Based on Friday's
figures, the total cut at UB could amount to more than three times
that figure, although "we have not been given a number yet," Wagner
said. He anticipates that UB's share of the cut will actually be
lower, but "how much lower we don't know at this point."
	One thing appears fairly certain, however. With the semester
already in progress, cutting programs is probably not an option.
	Students, Bloch emphasized, are UB's "highest priority." And
although the Jan. 30 Spectrum reported that students were prepared to
protest should classes or student services be eliminated mid-semester,
"that's almost the last thing we would do for the current year," the
provost said.
	"Our ability to significantly influence expenditures related
to instruction is very small," said Wagner. "We'll have to work at
several things" to close the gap in this year's budget, he added.
	The $1 million cut that UB had anticipated and budgeted for is
"a start" toward meeting the mid-year expenditure reduction, Wagner
said. UB also will have to carefully manage filling vacant positions
and on both an institutional and unit level will have to look at
anticipated expenditures to determine what can be "reduced, eliminated
or postponed."
	"Is that going to save a lot of money? No. Are we going to
have to make a major effort? The answer is 'yes,'" Wagner said.
	Wagner admitted that it is difficult to predict how much money
UB actually will be able to save by taking a hard look at expenditures
and leaving jobs vacant. "I think $1 million to $2 million in
additional savings may be possible," in addition to the $1 million
that had already been budgeted, he said.
	There is a chance that UB will go into the next fiscal year in
debt, "which will allow us 17 months to achieve those reductions,"
Wagner said. "Given the magnitude of the number, (it's likely that)
some of the $25 million will carry into fiscal year 1995-96.
	"In theory, the entire $25 million could be rolled into the
next fiscal year, but why would we want to?," especially in light of
the additional cuts that are expected to be made to the budget, Wagner
said.
	UB officials are expecting significant reductions to the
1995-96 budget, potentially the "largest reduction to the system that
SUNY has had to deal with," Wagner said.
	To put it mildly, UB officials are anticipating "a very
difficult year," the senior vice president said. "In the last six
years, there have been 14 (budgetary) reductions. We were able to do
that without retrenchment," Wagner said. "Certainly efforts will be
made to avoid retrenchment, but until we see the magnitude of the
reductions, we'll have to leave that a possibility."
	UB's academic programs also may see some changes, as a result
of the budget.
	"We can't keep reducing the budget and expect things to keep
going the way they have," said Bloch, who did not rule out the
possibility that programs may have to be cut in the future.
	He added that speculation regarding future measures was
"premature."
	"There's no point to this kind of guesswork. This whole thing
has happened extremely fast," Bloch said. "We do have an ongoing
process. We know in detail what the deans' budgetary priorities
are....We have to have an intense discussion about our institutional
priorities and those expenditures that are most important to us."
	Wagner urged the university community to be patient as the new
budget situation unfolds. "It may be that it will take more than
several days to get full information on the executive budget, given
the short amount of time they've had to prepare it," he said.
	"It's a whole new ball game," one that will require increased
communication and discussion among units, Wagner said.
dministrators at UB "do not intend to
	sacrifice the forward movement of the university" as a result
of budget cuts, said Bloch. "We can't stop investing in new
initiatives for our future, even at the expense of some of the things
that we do now."
	The university will be looking hard for efficiencies, savings
and revenues to lessen the impact of budget cuts. "This is a time of
institutional stress and we hope all segments of the university
community -- students, faculty and staff -- can pull together to make
the difficult adjustments we will be facing," he said.
	"This is only the beginning. We'll find ways to live through
the severe cut this fiscal year. But the shape of the university may
well be determined by the decisions we will have to make, and the way
we conduct ourselves in making them, for the next fiscal year and
beyond."