Article published August 25, 2009
$8 million deficit UT plans temporary furloughs, new layoffs
Budget-balancing includes tuition hike
By MEGHAN GILBERT
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Each of the University of Toledo's more than 6,500 employees will be required to take at least one furlough day to help address an $8 million budget deficit under a policy approved yesterday by the finance committee of the UT Board of Trustees.
The furloughs, which would include faculty, would help the university recover $1.3 million, said Scott Scarborough, UT's senior vice president for finance and administration.
About 40 additional layoffs, program cuts, and a tuition increase in the spring also will be necessary to balance the budget, officials said.
The furlough policy will be negotiated with the unions before it is finalized.
The plan is for the furloughs to include all employees and for the university to basically shut down for a few days in December when students are not on campus.
"It is my intent and desire to include everyone," UT President Lloyd Jacobs said. "I believe we're all in this together."Bowling Green State University announced this month that more than 500 employees would be required to take at least three unpaid furlough days. Faculty were mostly excluded from the furloughs because BGSU targeted
12-month employees and most faculty are on nine-month contracts.
BGSU said the furloughs would save about $800,000 in salary and retirement contributions. UT is planning layoffs as well as the furloughs to balance the budget.
The 40 layoffs, expected to save $1.9 million, are in addition to the reduction of 300 positions in the spring. In April, UT laid off nearly 100 employees and eliminated 200 vacant positions to address a $16 million budget deficit.
Dr. Jacobs said officials will try again to reduce the work force by eliminating vacant positions before laying off people.
UT previously announced it is raising tuition 3.5 percent this fall, but will give students a waiver to offset that amount so there is no additional out-of-pocket expense.
Officials decided to do that to maximize future tuition increases because percentage increases build on each other.
It was hinted at the time and confirmed yesterday that students will need to pay that 3.5 percent increase starting in the spring semester. It's expected to generate $2 million for this fiscal year.
The last piece of the four-part solution to the budget deficit is program eliminations that collectively will save $2.7 million.
Those include slashing a program that gave bonuses for perfect attendance to save $300,000 and eliminating a traditional dining hall at The Crossings and replacing it with fast-food service, saving $400,000.
The cuts were spread out across the university to help mitigate the impact on specific aspects of UT business, Dr. Jacobs said.
"There's a reasonable balance between the sharing approach and the downsizing approach," he said.
UT is cutting $1 million from the hospital operations at the UT Medical Center, formerly the Medical College of Ohio Hospital.
Those cuts will be absorbed through a furlough program, which probably will be a holiday reduction. There also will be a consolidation of vendors to reduce costs, Mr. Scarborough said.
Overall, the amended budget shows decreases in operating expenses on the academic side from $518 million to $512 million and on the hospital side from $256 million to $255 million.
With the additional $2 million for the tuition increase in the spring, UT makes up the total of nearly $9 million in cuts to the academic and clinical operations of the university.
UT had approved its fiscal year 2010 budget in May before the Ohio budget was finalized. The adjusted state budget that was passed cut money that goes to public colleges and universities, called "state share of instruction."
UT saw a 4.8 percent loss there and an additional 8.8 percent reduction to clinical teaching funding, and there were additional program cuts that affected the university, Mr. Scarborough said.
Contact Meghan Gilbert at:
mgilbert@theblade.com
or 419-724-6134.
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