Budget Messages

FY 2002 Proposed Budget

Thursday, February 1, 2001

Introduction

This is the fifth year for campus-wide participation in the budget process, although last year there was no money to allocate due to the shortfall in salary appropriations. Each year has resulted in increased advanced planning and participation in the generation of requests and proposals from across the campus for the Cabinet to consider at the beginning of its deliberations.

The allocations which have been made represent budget additions from projected new revenue. Final decisions by the General Assembly and Governor, as well as changes in enrollment, could necessitate changes in the actual allocations. At this time, the shortfall in state revenue from projections is worrisome.

Not included in the allocations are additions for salary increases, since the collective bargaining agreements are still in the negotiations process. We anticipate the settlement to be fully funded in the Governor’s salary bill. We also expect the funding required for salary annualization of Regents merit employees step increases required in the AFSCME contract to be included in the salary bill. We do not, however, expect that our salary allocation will include funding for increases in health insurance benefits, which will then need to be covered by reallocation. Again, changes in the state revenue from projections could have an adverse impact on funding.

Each division will be expected to target reallocations of at least 2 percent toward achievement of our strategic planning goals. These are to be reported to the Cabinet on March 31.

Projected Income

Principal sources of income are state appropriations and tuition. The Governor’s budget recommendation for UNI, exclusive of salary increases, however, provided NO additional dollars for our operating budget. This compares to a request by the Regents for UNI of $3,000,000. Tuition is our only source of new income, and is projected to provide an additional $3,622,317. Of this, 19 percent ($688,240) is designated for student aid set-aside by current practice.

Proposed Expenditures

The Cabinet proposes to distribute the tuition income as follows (There is no new money proposed by the Governor, other than what will come in the salary bill):

I. Unavoidable Cost Increases

Amount

Purpose

Comments

$ 23,000

Insurance

Premium increase

$ 5,000

Institutional memberships

Dues increase

$ 4,700

Audit costs

Increase in billing from the State Auditor’s Office

$ 2,000

Board of Regents support

Increase in chargebacks to the University from the Board office

$ 700

Lakeside Lab

Increase in UNI’s share of support for the lab

$ 0

Utilities

No permanent adjustment is being recommended at this time; contingency funds have been designated for the short term.

II. Fulfilling Prior Commitments

$688,240

Student aid Set-a-side

UNI historically has designated 19% of tuition income to student aid.

$400,000

Performing Arts Center

This fulfills a $200,000 commitment made for FY 01, which will allow for reallocation to the library and other academic priorities, and a $200,000 commitment for FY 02. This completes the general fund support for operating costs.

$300,000

MEMFIS

This is a multi-year project--Modern Executive Management Financial Information System to replace the core systems of human resources, payroll, general ledger, purchasing, accounts payable, grants and contracts projects, and budgeting.

$140,000

Opening new buildings

This supports the custodial and associated facility costs for the Performing Arts Center that were not funded by the General Assembly last year.

 

III. Inflationary Increases

$220,000

Supplies and Services

This constitutes a 2% increase in supplies and services budgets; no increase was given last year.

$ 75,000

Student wage increase

This constitutes a 3% increase in student wage budgets at the departmental level.
 

IV. Strategic Initiatives

Goal/
Objective

Amount

Purpose

Comment

1.1, 1.3, 1.4

$1,000,000

Add tenure track faculty positions

This support, coupled with existing adjunct funds, will enable approximately 22 additional tenure track faculty to be hired.

3.1, 8.2

$ 252,577

Integrated marketing

Chargebacks for design and video services to departments will be eliminated except for grant-funded projects and auxiliary enterprises and three new positions added to implement the University’s integrated marketing plan, which will aid in student recruitment and increased revenue generation for the institution.

3.1, 7.0

$ 160,000

Information Management and Analysis

Staff positions will be added to improve the quality of data collection and analysis and the availability of information for use in decision making.

4.0, 5.0

$ 115,000

Integrated Student Services Center

Half salary for a student portal developer for online student services, a document imaging system and other needed equipment for the Center.

7.0

$ 96,000

Controller’s Office

Two positions will be added: an accountant to help address a backlog in grant and contract activities from the Graduate College and an accounts payable/travel manager for the new functions in Oracle.

4.0

$ 90,000

Diversity initiatives

Funding will support admission and retention efforts to meet the strategic plan goals of the Board of Regents and University.

5.1, 7.0

$ 50,000

Building repairs

This is a small increase to an already inadequate building repair budget.

Allocations have been made first to those areas in which there are unavoidable cost increases, second to some of those areas for which prior commitments had been made, third to inflation, and then to initiatives in support of the strategic plan (hotlink to it on web). All amounts are incremental additions to base budgets. You will recall that last year all tuition income had to be dedicated to meeting the shortfall in salary funding from the state. This forced reallocations to cover previous commitments. Funding this year restores those commitments.

The items funded represent priorities of the strategic plan, the performance indicators presented to the Board of Regents, and the highest priorities of divisions of the university, as well as some areas of unavoidable or nondiscretionary cost increases. The total dollars requested from all areas of the campus were several times greater than the total funds projected to be available.

The Cabinet sincerely appreciates the thoughtful deliberations by the campus community during the proposal process.

Consultation Process

As in the past, each vice president and the director of external relations will provide a consultative process to seek employee and student comment on the budget proposal. Each division is asked to report back to the full cabinet by March 2. In that report, each VP/director will be asked to identify proposed changes in the university allocation. Reallocations within each division for FY 2002 should be reported by March 31.

The web version of this document provides an e-mail response mechanism for those wishing to comment directly to the Cabinet. To respond in this manner, follow this link to acting vice president of business and finance, Eunice Dell (eunice.dell@uni.edu). Greater weight, however, will be given to those comments which flow from each division consultative process.

After consideration of all comments, the Cabinet will publish a "near-final" draft to the WEB-site on March 26. There will be a one-week period for email input to this version. The final draft, to be presented to the Board of Regents, will be published on the WEB on April 10.

FY 2003 Requests

FY2003 budget requests should also be developed during this consultative process and forwarded by March 2. Most "business as usual" needs will fall into the internal reallocation process. Requests to the Board of Regents should reflect the strategic plan, indicate measurable outcomes, and be capable of generating political support.

FY 2001 Proposed Budget

Saturday, February 5, 2000

Discussion of potential FY 2001 campus incremental budget allocation.

For the last three years, university budget proposals for the upcoming year have been published on the web. These budget proposals have been based on the published Governor’s Budget, the projected tuition collections for that fiscal year, and the input from campus-wide participation in the budget process.

This year our budget situation is different. As you know, UNI has already suffered from a deappropriation of $446,351. In addition, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s analysis of the FY2001 Governor’s Budget shows a shortfall of at least $8.5 million in funding the Regent’s Salary Budget (salaries for faculty and staff at UNI, SUI and ISU). Beyond that, the budget increases necessary to fund benefits for the Regents salaries are only funded at 2% against an estimated need of 10%. If these shortfalls persist through the end of the session, we will need to use the entire projected tuition collections for the next fiscal year to make up the difference.

We want you to know that full funding of salary increases from state appropriations is the highest priority of the Regents and Regent institutions. We will work hard with the legislature to find ways to close this gap. History tells us, however, that the Governor’s Budget is almost always the driver of the final allocations.

The good news is that important capital expenditures, including the McCollum Science Addition, are recommended at the full Board of Regent’s request of $16.9M. And the Masters in Social Work was recommended at the requested $300,000. However the rest of the budget recommendation is sparse. No funds were recommended for library, inflation, or undergraduate inflation. And the opening costs for new facilities were recommended at approximately one-third the total requested. This information is summarized in the table below.

 

FY 2001 Allocations
Budget Request

 

Governor’s
Budget

    
Maintaining the campus
$900,000
  

$48,000a

   a. Opening PAC - Approx. 1/3rd of $140,000 needed for the second half of the operating costs
Enhancing Undergraduate Education
$1,600,000
  
0 
    
Post Bac. Workforce Development
$1,050,000
  

$300,000b

   b. 2nd half of the masters in Social Work
Totals
$3,550,000
  
$348,000 
    

Given the bleak outlook for additional funding, the Cabinet believes it is pointless to hold our typical discussion of potential new initiatives with the campus.

Nonetheless, the Cabinet would like to share with the campus those items of continuing obligation that would be funding priorities if we are able to make progress in closing the gap between the budget currently recommended by the Governor and the minimum coverage of current obligations.

Obligations
  
Purpose
$277,000
   Student Aid Set Aside
$260,000
   Student Activity Fee
$200,000
   Performing Arts Center operations staffing
$108,100
   MEMFIS
$357,900
   Restore UNI contingency @ .6%
$ 3,000
   Employee Assistance Program (to cover expanded UNI staff)
$215,000
   Utilities

FY 2000 Proposed Budget

Thursday, April 15, 1999

Introduction

This is the third year for campus-wide participation in the budget process. Each year has resulted in increased advanced planning and participation in the generation of requests and proposals from across the campus for the Cabinet to consider at the beginning of its deliberations.

The allocations which have been made represent budget additions from projected new revenue. Final decisions by the General Assembly and Governor, as well as changes in enrollment, could necessitate changes in the proposal.

Not included in the allocations are additions for salary increases, since the collective bargaining agreement is still in the negotiation process. We would anticipate the settlement to be fully funded in the Governor’s salary bill. We also expect that the funding required for salary annualization of Regents merit employees step increases required in the AFSCME contract to be included in the salary bill.

Each division will be expected to target reallocations of at least two percent toward achievement of our strategic planning goals. These are to be reported to the Cabinet on March 31.

Projected Income

Principal sources of income are state appropriations and tuition. The Governor’s budget recommendations for UNI, exclusive of salary increases, provide an additional $1 million to our base budget. This compares to a request by the Regents for UNI of $3,295,817. Tuition income is projected to provide an additional $1,423,063. Of this, 19 percent ($270,000) is designated for student aid by current practice. The total new revenue projected is $2,515,063.

Proposed Expenditures

The Cabinet proposes to distribute the funds as follows in support of the strategic plan.

GOAL 1: INTELLECTUAL VITALITY: Create and maintain an intellectually demanding and stimulating environment for all members of the University community.

AMOUNT

PURPOSE

COMMENT
$300,000 Teacher Education for the 21st Century Governor’s Budget (Regents request was $500,000).
$300,000 Master’s Degree in Social Work Governor’s Budget. Fully funds Regents request.
$200,000 Performing Arts Center Staffing and support to operationalize programming with the opening of the PAC January 1, 2000.
$150,000 Life Cycle Equipment Fund: Academic Affairs Establishment of an equipment life cycle matching fund in the Office of the Provost. First year's allocation with an intent to expand next year. Faculty Senate priority.
$100,000 Improving Undergraduate Education Governor’s Budget (Regents request was for $775,000). Supports increased faculty-student interactions and quality improvements in curriculum.
$100,000 Inflation on Library Materials Governor’s Budget (Regents request was for $212,802).
$80,000 HPELS ($60,000), Athletics ($20,000) Provides support for general education instruction in lieu of coaches having split assignments between Athletics and HPELS.

 

GOAL 2: COMMUNITY: Promote a sense of community within the University.

AMOUNT

PURPOSE

COMMENT
$270,000 Student Aid Set-Aside This constitutes 19% of the projected increase in tuition income, consistent with our historic allocations. Of this amount, $31,090 is for graduate scholarships.
$90,000 Wellness Recreation Center Staffing and support for WRC operations. Temporary allocations of $75,000 had been made the previous two years until the Center was fully operational and the amount needed was determined.
$35,000 Diversity Programming One-time allocation, pending development of a campus plan.
$32,000 Employee Assistance Program To fund an RFP for a service provider to provide assistance with workplace issues that affect performance and productivity and to provide employees with access to confidential assistance with problems in such areas as substance abuse, counseling needs, etc.
$1,200 P&S Council To provide an operating budget for P&S Council work.

 

GOAL 3: RESOURCES: Effectively manage internal resources and aggressively seek external resources to support University programs and aspirations.

AMOUNT

PURPOSE

COMMENT
$145,000 Administrative Systems Software and Support First installment of base budget for the purchase and operation of new software for human resources, payroll, general ledger, purchasing, accounts payable, and budget.
$140,000 Opening New Buildings: Performing Arts Center Governor’s Budget; Regents recommendation. Funds utilities, custodial service, and related supplies for the PAC for the first half year, January-June, 2000.
$95,800 Inflation on Supplies and Services One percent increase to be distributed strategically by each division.
$78,000 Information Technology Services Improved internet connection speed, infrastructure, and network support (not personnel).
$60,000 Building Repair Governor’s Budget (Regents request was $250,000). Enables progress on a performance indicator of the strategic plan.
$60,000 Technology Coordinator position for Educational and Student Services Provides technology coordination and support across the division.
$50,000 Architectural Planner, Facilities Planning Office To provide increased assistance to departments in planning for facility improvements.
$42,000 Life Cycle Equipment Fund: Administration and Finance To provide for periodic replacement of large maintenance equipment, i.e. snow plows. First year's allocation with an intent to expand next year.
$25,000 Insurance To meet cost increases.
$19,000 Board of Regents Support To meet increased costs assessed to the institution.

 

GOAL 4: EXTERNAL RELATIONS: Develop appreciation and support for the values, programs, and services of the University.
AMOUNT PURPOSE COMMENT
$50,000 Institutional Promotion Supports university-wide promotion to meet goals of the Constituency Relations Management Group Strategic Plan, especially in targeted cities.

 

The items funded represent priorities of the strategic plan, the performance indicators presented to the Board of Regents, and the highest priorities of divisions of the university, as well as some areas of unavoidable or nondiscretionary cost increases. The total dollars requested from all areas of the campus were several times greater than the total funds projected to be available.

The Cabinet sincerely appreciates the thoughtful deliberations by the campus community during the proposal process.

Consultation Process

As in the past, each Vice President and the Director of External Relations will provide a consultative process to seek employee and student comment on the budget proposal. Each division is asked to report back to the full cabinet by March 3. In that report, each VP/Director will be asked to identify proposed changes in the university allocation. Reallocations within each division for FY 2000 should be reported by March 31.

The web version of this document provides an e-mail response mechanism for those wishing to comment directly to the Cabinet.  Greater weight, however, will be given to those comments which flow from each division consultative process.

After consideration of all comments, the Cabinet will publish a "near-final" draft to the WEB-site on March 24. There will be a one-week period for email input to this version. The final draft, to be presented to the Board of Regents, will be published on the WEB on April 9.

FY 2001 Requests

FY2001 budget requests should also be developed during this consultative process and forwarded by March 3. Most "business as usual" needs will fall into the internal reallocation process. Requests to the Board of Regents should reflect the strategic plan, indicate measurable outcomes, and be capable of generating political support.

FY 1999 Proposed Budget

Tuesday, February 3, 1998

Introduction

This is the second year for campus-wide participation in the budget process. The experiences from the first year resulted in much more advanced planning and participation this year in the generation of requests and proposals from across the campus for the Cabinet to consider at the beginning of its deliberations.

The allocations which have been made represent budget additions from projected new revenue. Final decisions by the General Assembly and Governor, as well as changes in enrollment, could necessitate changes.

Not included in what follows are additions for salary increases. We do expect, based on the Governor’s recommendations, full funding of the salary bill in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. An additional item in the Governor’s Budget not reflected here is a recommendation of $500,000 to implement the Pomerantz Commission recommendation on excellence in education.

Each division also will be expected to target reallocations of at least two percent toward achievement of our strategic planning goals.

Projected Income

Principal sources of income are state appropriations and tuition. The Governor’s budget recommendations for UNI, exclusive of salary increases, provide an additional $519,316 to our base budget. This compares to a request by the Regents for UNI of $2.9 million. Tuition income is projected to provide an additional $1,187,000. Of this, 19 percent ($225,500) is designated for student aid by current practice. The total new revenue projected is $1,706,316.

Proposed Expenditures

The Cabinet proposes to distribute the funds as follows:

Amount Purpose Comment
$250,000 Five additional faculty for general education Supports Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan. Academic priority.
$225,500 Student Aid Set-Aside Of this amount the following will be earmarked: $100,000, Diversity Scholarships; $60,000, international scholarships for UNI students outbound; $37,000, international scholarships for UNI students inbound
$164,100 Improving undergraduate education Governor’s Budget: For instructional equipment support. Regents request was for $500,000. Academic priority.
$160,000 International Student Services Governor’s Budget: Includes $100,000 of the Regents request for $400,000, and an additional $60,000 is provided. Supports Goal 2 of the Strategic Plan.
$130,206 Supplies and Services Inflationary Adjustment Represents a 1.5% increase to deal with inflationary increases. This is consistent with Goals 1 and 3 of the Strategic Plan.
$100,000 Matching funds for grant applications To provide incentives for increased grants activity. Supports Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan. Academic priority.
$100,000 Inflation on Library materials Governor’s Budget: Represents only half of the Regents request
$89,316 Salary Annualization Governor’s Budget: Required for merit employee salary increases
$65,900 Opening costs for Wellness/Recreation Center Governor’s Budget: Represents remaining amount not funded in FY98 for utility and maintenance costs
$60,000 Instructional support for outreach Staff position in Continuing Education to assist faculty in course development to reach off-campus audiences. Supports performance indicator for Goal 1. Proposed by the Distance Education Task Force. Academic priority.
$60,000 Performing Arts Center Staff support
$55,186 Diversity Initiatives Implement recommendations from the Diversity Task Force to improve recruitment and retention, consistent with Goal 2 of the Strategic Plan and its performance indicator
$55,000 Controller’s Office staff accountant ($35,000) and Supplies and Services ($20,000) This is to cover a new expense necessary to comply with federal reporting mandates associated with the Hope Scholarship Program and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits and accommodate growth in demand on the Controller’s Office for services.
$50,000 Building repairs To enable progress on the performance indicator for Goal 3.
$35,775 Library: Lexus Nexus Universe Supports Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan. Academic priority.
$35,000 Counseling Center staff position Supports Goal 2 and meets student needs
$27,908 Commencement This increase reflects the true costs for commencement
$20,000 Market Research To support outreach, student recruitment, and external relations activities, a performance indicator in Goal 4.
$15,000 Iowa State Fair Booth Supports Goal 4 external relations activities
$7,425 Northern Iowa Today Increased production/mailing costs to serve a growing alumni population

A sizable number of items relate to unavoidable or nondiscretionary cost increases. The items funded represent priorities of the strategic plan, the performance indicators presented to the Board of Regents, and the highest priorities of divisions of the university. The total dollars requested from all areas of the campus were several times greater than the total funds projected to be available.

A major nondiscretionary budget item not reflected in this budget proposal is the need for new administrative systems software (human resources, payroll, general ledgers, purchasing, accounts payable, and budget). This will require a multi-year financing plan once the appropriate software is identified. The Cabinet has committed use of contingency funds remaining from FY98 to begin this process.

The Cabinet sincerely appreciates the thoughtful deliberations by the campus community during the proposal process.

Consultation Process

As last year, each Vice President and the Director of External Relations will provide a consultative process to seek employee and student comment on the budget proposal. Each division is asked to report back to the full cabinet by March 2. In that report, each VP/Director will be asked to identify proposed changes in the university allocation. Reallocations within each division for FY99 should be reported by March 31.

After consideration of all comments, the Cabinet will publish a "near-final" draft to the WEB-site on March 24. There will be a one-week period for email input to this version. The final draft, to be presented to the Board of Regents, will be published on the WEB on April 8.

FY 2000 Requests

FY2000 budget requests should also be developed during this consultative process and forwarded by March 2. Most "business as usual" needs will fall into the internal reallocation process. Requests to the Board of Regents should reflect the strategic plan and be capable of generating political support.

FY 1998 Proposed Budget

Monday, February 3, 1997

INTRODUCTION

This fiscal year we begin the practice of open consultation on the progress of the UNI General Education Fund (GEF) Budget. This consultation will occur at several levels. This paper deals only with the distribution of the increases in income we anticipate in FY98 over FY97 receipts and reallocations from the President's Office budget to the other campus divisions. Allocation of this distribution and reallocations within each Division will be the responsibility of that Division Vice President.

FY97, the current fiscal year, necessarily forms the base year for monitoring this progress. It will be easier to follow the subsequent discussion by referring frequently to the attached spreadsheet.

INCOME

Income to the GEF derives from legislative appropriations, tuition collections, and a small amount of other income. The legislative appropriation anticipated is based on the budget presented by the Governor in his message of January 15, 1997. In this message, the suggested increase for UNI operations is $804,000. Of this amount, only $150,711 offers any degree of campus discretion in its expenditure. The remainder is budgeted by line and includes $131,000 to cover inflation for library acquisitions, $383,000 to cover increased utility and maintenance costs for the new Wellness Center, $89,289 for salary annualization, and $50,000 to provide the per-student cost for enrollment increases associated with the outreach program at Carroll, IA.

The income increase from tuition collections is estimated to be $1,142,446. Of this amount, 81% is discretionary within the guidelines approved by the Board of Regents. The remaining 19% is designated, under current policy, to increase funds for student financial aid. This portion must be paid out directly to students qualifying for aid or scholarships. The income estimate assumes no change in mix or number of students occurs. The estimate probably is conservative, but there are insufficient data to justify any alternative estimate. The estimate for income increases from other sources, $25,939, also is conservative.

The sum of the portions of the income over which the campus has some discretion is $1,102,031. It is this amount, plus a reallocation of some of the base currently in the President's Office, that will be the focus of the discussion of expenditures.

EXPENDITURES

FY97 budgeted expenditures are listed by Division on the attached spreadsheet. They are: President's Office, includes External Relations, Public Relations, and Affirmative Action, $2,734,202; Academic Affairs, includes Colleges, Library and Information Technology Services, $71,432,380; Educational and Student Services, $5,215,681; Administration and Finance, $20,056,166; Advancement, $1,058,440; General Institution, $1,128,821; and GEF Student Aid Set-aside, does not include financial aid administration, $5,447,810.

Of these lines, all are self-explanatory except General Institution. This line funds items over which the institution has little control such as direct assessments to UNI by the Regents office, the contingency fund, and as a source for one-time allocations that are not well enough defined to merit a permanent allocation. This last category is likely to be more easily understood as discussion of changes in its value follow.

Reading the spreadsheet from left to right for any Division should yield information about the proposed changes in that Division's Budget. For example, the Academic Affairs row will show the FY97 base in column 3, $71,432,380; adjustments resulting from line items in the Governor's proposed budget in column 5, $181,000; allocation from new income in column 7, $550,010; reallocation from other divisions in column 9, $451,934, and, finally, the new base budget for the Division in column 11, $72,615,324. The actual new base for the Division also will include salary increases, once they are determined.

Distribution of the Governor's proposed increases was discussed in the "Income" section.

Proposed distribution of the "discretionary" income, column 7, is as follows: President's Office--External Relations and Affirmative Action staffing plus a 3% increase in Supplies and Services base, $31,824; Academic Affairs--equipment, staffing, incentives for "Iowa as our Campus" initiative, elimination of course fees, plus a 3% increase in Supplies and Services base, $550,010; Educational and Student Services--staffing plus a 3% increase in Supplies and Services base, $54,167; Administration and Finance--increase building repair fund specifically to reduce backlog in remodeling projects, cover increase in utility bills, plus a 3% increase in Supplies and Services base, $306,074; Advancement--staffing of the new visitor center plus a 3% increase in Supplies and Services base, $21,615; General Institution--Wellness Center student assistants, $75,000, marketing with emphasis on the evening program, $50,000.

Proposed reallocation among Divisions is as follows: President's Office--reduce technology enhancement fund base, $(496,296); Academic Affairs--increase telephone budget to cover cost increases attributed to new digital system, increase base budget of ITS to assure digital data network availability to all academic buildings, $451,934; Educational and Student Services--increase telephone budget to cover cost increases attributed to new digital system, $16,794; Administration and Finance-- increase telephone budget to cover cost increases attributed to new digital system, $24,922; Advancement-- increase telephone budget to cover cost increases attributed to new digital system, $2,646.

Strategic Considerations

How specific allocations within any Division reflect the Strategic Plan are best discussed with that Division's Vice President, but it is clear that the above allocations reflect some fundamental decisions on the part of the Cabinet as a team. It is our judgment that non-salary items have not recovered appropriately from years in the past when these funds were used as the source of budget reductions. The single most important tactic we could use to support the strategy of improving instruction and services to meet our goal of intellectual vitality was to begin to hasten that recovery. By far the largest fraction of allocated and centrally reallocated funds are, therefore, distributed to supplies, services, and equipment. It is intended that these proposed expenditures improve the tools each person, student, faculty and staff has at their disposal in order to increase their personal productivity. This allocation also allows elimination of general course fees. The Cabinet believed that this would be more convenient for students and reduce overhead for Departments.

The next largest fraction was allocated to staffing. Some of that staffing seemed unavoidable and was created by previous commitments. Examples of this are the addition of a Manager of the Performing Arts Center and some personnel support for the Wellness Center, in the form of student assistants.

The Cabinet also identified the inability to get timely remodeling of spaces necessary to changing functions, primarily academic and instructional, as a barrier to quality instruction, and allocated $150,000 to help relieve some of the backlog in this area. While the amount is too small to make a major difference immediately, it clearly establishes an interest in making certain that the physical environment supports the primary functions of the University. An allocation of $99,000 was made to "just pay the bills," as the cost of fire protection, refuse disposal, and electricity and steam generation have risen regularly.

Finally, some smaller amounts were allocated to targeted programs. Outreach (Goal I.C.) was addressed by providing support to sustain enrollment in the Evening Program and to lower the barrier to developing courses that might have participation from remote sites, be that directly, via ICN, WWW, or whatever.

Enrollment management continues to be an important priority. If the strategic plan objective of increasing out-of-state enrollment is met, that will change the income mix in a positive way. Those changes are not anticipated in this budget discussion as presently they are speculative. Increased costs of out-of-state recruiting, if successful, will be offset by increased income.

OUT YEAR -- FY99

UNI will be asked to prepare its budget request for FY99 before the end of FY97. Readers of this document are asked to help their division identify needs that require new income. Please be aware that many needs can be met by internal reallocation. Most "business as usual" needs fall into the reallocation category. As is apparent from the treatment proposed for higher education in FY98, we need to prepare requests to the Board that truly reflect innovative thinking in order to develop the political support necessary for legislative increases.

EXPECTED OUTCOME FROM THIS CONSULTATIVE PROCESS

Each Vice President and the Director of External Relations have been asked to prepare a consultative process within their respective divisions that allow employees of that division to have a mechanism for comment on the proposed budget. Each division, in that process, is expected to make provision for student input as well.

Each division is asked to report back to the full Cabinet by March 14. In that report, each VP/Director will be asked to identify proposed changes in the university allocation as suggested by the consultative process in their division; reallocations within the division; and proposals for funding for FY99.

The Web version of this document provides an e-mail response field (see below) for those wishing to provide comments directly to the Cabinet, but you need to be aware that individual comments will carry less weight than those developed by the consultative process in each division.

After considering all the suggestions, the Cabinet will publish a near-final draft to the web site on April 7. There will be only one week available to respond to this version and the e-mail response option will become the preferred mode for input on that version.

The final draft, to be shared with the Board of Regents, will be published to the web on April 21. Necessary adjustments from final action by the General Assembly will be made before the proposal is forwarded to the Board. The Board, of course, has the authority to make changes from the recommendations we forward to them.

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