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by JUSTIN HERBERGER
News Reporter
Appalachian State University received its certified budget last week, after months of back-and-forth deliberations and meetings between the agencies responsible for allocating money within the university’s budget.
Betsy Payne, budget director in the Office of Business Affairs said the budget proposed and amended by the university’s administration, the N.C. General Assembly and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors finally landed on her desk last week after Gov. Beverly Perdue signed the final certified budget, Sept. 16.
This year’s budget has been reduced by a permanent cut of 5.2 percent and a 5 percent allocations hold back that depends on the revenue the state is able to generate this year.
She said the vice
chancellors of the university’s divisions had to meet with their
respective units to formulate a plan dealing with the budgetary
reductions.
“We’re
hoping to have, if not all, the majority of the budgets posted by the
end of this week… and that’s late,” Payne said. “Certainly, the
economic downturn has affected everything that we have gone through in
the past few months… The reduction part has been the killer this time.”
The
process of preparing for the allocation of state dollars for this
fiscal year began months ago as the budget office prepared scenarios to
help department heads and others involved determine how to deal with
different predicted levels of budgetary reductions.
“With
each of these scenarios, each vice chancellor had many meetings with
their areas to determine what cuts they could and could not take,”
Payne said. “There are just a lot of negotiations that have to take
place within the university system was well as with the legislature.”
Vice
Provost for Resource Management for Academic Affairs Tim H. Burwell
said despite the 10.2 percent total budget reduction, the university
has been able to offset the brunt of the reductions through additional
revenue from state appropriated enrollment growth funds and a
campus-based $78 tuition hike.
These additional sources of revenue make this year’s budget larger than the previous fiscal year.
Academic departments will face relatively small reductions compared to last year.
Burwell
said the university’s administration, in the midst of the cuts, has
done everything possible to protect “the kind of learning environment”
the university tries to provide for students.
“The
number one priority for the chancellor and the vice chancellors is to
preserve our core academic functions, and that has been a part of the
planning,” Burwell said.
Student
Government Association President Jonathan H. Meisner said one of the
most valuable items to go through in this year’s budget is a 24-hour
library, funded by the campus-based tuition increase.
Typically,
Belk Library & Information Commons is open around the clock during
exam times. Starting Nov. 29, the facility will be open 24 hours, five
days per week.
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