President's Campus Communication 3/30/09
Dear Colleagues,
Several hundred of your ideas about strategic investments, revenue enhancements and cost savings have been submitted by campus budget leaders for discussion over the next few weeks. OBIA is still compiling and following up on some of the information, but it is already apparent that there are many thoughtful suggestions. I appreciate the significant amount of time and energy you invested in this work.
We have far more ideas for investments than for savings, but this is no surprise, given our ongoing efforts to be more efficient. We will continue to focus on maximizing revenues and managing expenditures, so we can invest in the things most important to us. For budgeting purposes, we are assuming flat enrollment next fall; however, if net enrollment revenue exceeds our budget projections, we will use the additional funds to invest in priorities identified during budget discussions.
It is still unclear how much state and federal funding we will receive for fiscal year 2010. As we anticipated, the March revenue forecast from the Governor’s Office of State Budgeting and Planning is less optimistic than its December forecast. On the other hand, Colorado is eligible to receive an estimated $760 million from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund created by the federal economic stimulus package.
The state is required to use about $622 million of the stimulus funds to support and restore elementary, secondary and postsecondary education and early childhood programs and services, with K-12 funding being the priority. Gov. Bill Ritter has proposed using the funds to restore K-12 and higher education to their original fiscal year 2009 appropriations, but this may not be possible in light of the updated revenue forecast. We will know more when the Long Bill is introduced, but we don’t expect that to happen today as planned because there are still so many uncertainties.
I will continue to update you as we learn more. You can also access recent financial information, campus communications and an electronic feedback form online at http://www.unco.edu/pres/ under the Financial Matters link.
Sincerely,
Kay Norton
Upcoming Budget Discussions/Updates
Tuesday, March 31--SPEEC
Tuesday, March 31--All faculty meeting
Wednesday, April 1--PASC
Friday, April 3--Business managers meeting
Monday, April 13--Campus governance group leaders, deans, AVPs and VPs
Wednesday, April 15--Board of Trustees Finance and Audit Committee
Friday, May 8--Board of Trustees
Tuesday, June 2--Campus governance group leaders, deans, AVPs and VPs
Friday, June 12--Board of Trustees