Budget prehearings underway
The budget pre-hearings are underway.
Drs. Haggett and Gold are meeting with all the colleges and academic support units, and I am meeting with all of the non-academic support units to review their budget scenarios—both the 7% and 15% scenarios. Up to one-half of each budget scenario may include proposed revenue enhancements, so the pre-hearing conversations typically begin by assessing the reasonableness of revenue enhancement proposals.
To date, I have held pre-hearings with Information Technology, Budget Office, Advancement, Human Resources, Athletics, and Students Affairs. I am happy to report that all areas were fully prepared and made excellent presentations. My goal for the pre-hearings is to make sure the budget scenarios are thoughtfully and accurately prepared and clearly presented. Decision-making does not really begin, however, until after the pre-hearings and formal budget hearings have concluded, which is around the end of March. After that, input is solicited from the university’s Finance and Strategy Committee.
In summary, it is still very early in the process, but I am optimistic that the university non-academic support areas are making a very serious attempt to be as cost-effective as possible. To the extent they are successful, this maximizes the financial resources that go to our core academic areas. More to come…
March 4th, 2009at 3:20 pm
Perhaps there will be money for a Men’s Track team?