Budget cut estimated at $4.1 million
Greiner calls lack of funding to cover inflationary costs "honest-to-goodness hit"

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

Although UB does not expect to receive its budget allocation from SUNY until later this month, President William R. Greiner Tuesday estimated that the university will suffer a $4.1 million reduction from last year's operating budget.

In an interview with the Reporter, Greiner dismissed reports circulating on campus that UB faces nearly $10 million in budget cuts.

In addition to the $4.1 million, UB will take a one-time expenditure reduction of $500,000 this fiscal year for failing to make its 1998/99 enrollment target, he said.

UB's expected allocation is $231.1 million, including $5.1 million for prior years' collective-bargaining agreements, to be paid in fiscal 1999/2000.

The budget adopted by the legislature for SUNY in August did not include funding to cover inflationary costs, estimated to be $1.1 million for UB.

The new contract between United University Professions and the State of New York calls for further salary adjustments during the fiscal year, and the university expects to receive the additional funds required to make those adjustments.

Greiner noted that the budget enacted in August did not provide for either inflationary costs or salary adjustments related to the prior years' bargaining agreements. Because of the "failure of the executive and legislature to agree on a number of SUNY issues," which led to the "stalemate," system administration has had to identify one-time revenue of $32 million to cover the costs for all of the campuses, he said.

The lack of money for inflationary costs poses "an honest-to-goodness hit," Greiner said, pointing out that the situation is particularly devastating for the University Libraries, since the cost of library material, especially periodicals, is skyrocketing. The libraries alone need $500,000 to cover inflationary costs, he said.

A allocation of $600,000 to cover inflation costs for the rest of the institution would have been "helpful," he said, noting that the lack of such funding puts UB in a "real squeeze." Units across campus will have to reallocate funds to pay for inflationary costs, he added.

Greiner pointed to the implementation of the SUNY Budget Allocation Process (BAP)-formerly known as SUNY RAM (Resource Allocation Methodology)-as another factor complicating the budget picture this year. BAP is the incentive-based process SUNY has begun using to allocate state tax revenue to the campuses.

When determining UB's allocation, he said, SUNY gave the university "credit" for an increase in sponsored-program activity, hospital-based research and meeting its budgeted enrollment for Fall 1999.

But UB considered the enrollment target for 1999/2000 too low. The fall actual enrollment exceeded the target by 1,000 FTE, Greiner said.

Moreover, UB expected $1 million in revenue from increases in tuition in the schools of Law and Pharmacy, and is "negotiating" with system administration for that tuition income, he said.

And UB, in next year's SUNY budget allocation, should benefit fully from the additional 1,000 FTE, he said.

While UB will take a multi-million-dollar cut in this year's budget, the news is not all bad. The plan does include funding to cover several initiatives, including $1 million for the UB/Roswell Park Center for Advanced Medical Technologies, $100,000 for the administration of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to reform and modernize the practice plan, $800,000 for Division I-A athletics gender-equity compliance efforts as part of the SUNY initiative to ensure that women have equal participation opportunities, $3.1 million to transfer the Research Institute on Addictions to UB, and $350,000 to support core programs and research and training endeavors at that Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth.