More UGA Cuts

UGA is now going to have to deal with, according to my understanding, a 25% cut in its budget from the state. While this is depressing, Adams has done an excellent job keeping jobs on campus and keeping current positions safe. Here is the latest from ABH:

The state's latest round of budget cutting will not force University of Georgia administrators to lay off or furlough employees, according to the university's top financial officer.

Gov. Sonny Perdue announced this week that he will cut money to state agencies by 25 percent next month, the last month of the 2009 fiscal year. For the fourth time this year, Perdue budget analysts revised their forecast of state revenue downward. State revenue has been down compared to a year earlier for five months in a row.

"We will just switch around some last-minute expenditures and carry them over until FY10," said Tim Burgess, UGA senior vice president for finance and administration. "We're not going to do furloughs." Administrators will not decide on what specific projects or purchases they will postpone until Monday, after UGA President Michael Adams returns from Southeastern Conference meetings in Destin, Fla.

Though about half of the money Perdue will cut in June can be replaced with federal stimulus money, it's another cut the university hadn't counted on, "so it's going to have an impact," Burgess said.

With the latest cutback, UGA and other state colleges and universities have lost nearly 14 percent of their state funding in a series of funding reductions this year - about a $60 million revenue loss for UGA. State lawmakers have cut about $2.8 billion overall from the state budget this year.

The Georgia budget for next year calls for a reduction of about 12 percent in state funding for UGA.State funding accounts for a little more than a third of UGA's annual budget of more than $1.4 billion. Student tuition and fees, along with research and service grants, account for most of the rest.

Early on in the continuing fiscal crisis, Adams said that saving jobs would be his top priority as administrators pared the UGA budget. Over a period of a more than a year, the university eliminated about 400 jobs without laying anyone off, according to Adams. Instead, UGA downsized by not filling job vacancies when workers quit, were fired or retired.

Again, I am very happy that the Administration has not cut jobs and I applaud them for doing so. I have seem Michael Adams frequently over the past year at different events, and he is an honest, hard-working man. I believe he cares about this university and will do whatever it takes to keep it going, even if it involves bucking the establishment.