The Budget Work Group met on Friday January 10. Its agenda included an update on two ongoing initiatives, the mid-year reduction in State Appropriations, and discussions regarding the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget.
Banner Budget Structure Revision
The implementation of changes to the Banner Budget Structure are underway and should be complete by later this month. Additional information is available in the Budget Work Group Files.(http://www.marshall.edu/2020/budget-work-group-file-library/)
Faculty Salary Adjustment Team (FSAT)
Eldon Larsen, the chair of the Faculty Salary Adjustment Team, reported. The FSAT met last week with the Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) to discuss proposed revisions to several polices including AA-26 (Faculty Promotion) and AA-28 (Faculty Tenure). The FSAT has been working with the President and the Budget Work Group on a plan to invest substantially in faculty salaries. This will require revisions to policy AA-7, Salary Increases for Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty. The two committees and the President will organize college-level sessions in January and February to outline these proposals and gather input from the faculty. The two committees hope to be able to present the three revised policies to Faculty Senate in March with the intent that these changes will provide a sound framework which when combined with other initiatives across campus will ensure that Marshall University can survive and thrive.
Fiscal Year 2014 Mid-year Reduction
The group reviewed the details of the mid-year cut of approximately 1.09% which requires a $539,674 reduction to Marshall’s Unrestricted State Appropriation. The School of Medicine and the Autism Training Center will see similar percentage reductions. Since the Unrestricted State Appropriation goes entirely to salaries and benefits, the reduction will require shifting funds in the amount of the reduction from personnel lines to other sources. The BWG believes that this reduction is better made as a one-time rather than base reduction.
To this end, the group explored several options for providing a source of funds to cover the personnel costs which must be shifted from the State Appropriated lines. After a spirited discussion, the group made the following recommendation:
* 50% of the reduction will come from FY 2014 savings on unfilled but already funded positions.
* 50% of the reduction will come from give-backs from Budget Units. A preliminary calculation of the actual amounts is given on table at the end of this text. The calculation took the average of two reductions: the first was calculated as a percentage of the total reduction using the Budget Units’ percentage of the December 31, 3013 WV-11 (all benefits-eligible positions) Headcount; the second was calculated as a percentage of the total reduction using the Budget Units’ percentage of university expenditures (adjusted for utilities, scholarships, reimbursements and transfers).
Details on the transfers are pending notification from the State on the mechanics of the reduction and on feedback from Budget Units on how they would be able to fund their transfer. A document showing the calculated transfer share is available here.
Fiscal Year 2015 Budget
With little time left, a brief overview of the Governor’s Recommended budget was given along with other expected and potential items that would need to be considered for the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget.
The next meeting of the Budget Work Group will be January 24.