Budget "gaps" to have $6 million impact on UB
Pataki proposal fails to provide funds for contractual salary increases, inflation costs

By SUE WUETCHER
and CHRISTINE VIDAL

The executive budget proposal released by Gov. George Pataki last week fails to provide money for SUNY contractual salary increases and inflation costs, a move that would have a $6 million impact on UB, administrators say.

The budget, which Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner described as "not surprising," also contains a broad variety of "adjustments" in the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) that would cut aid to eligible New York State students attending colleges and universities in the state by $114 million. The cut would affect approximately 5,000 students at UB to the tune of more than $2.5 million, Wagner estimated.

The TAP program provides financial aid to not only SUNY and CUNY students, but also to students attending private institutions in New York State.

The governor has proposed a total operating budget for SUNY of $1,589.3 million, an increase of only $1.6 million over the 1998-99 appropriation of $1,587.7 million.

The proposal would maintain tuition at its current level.

The SUNY Board of Trustees had requested an operating budget of $1,631.7 million, a figure that Wagner said included money to cover negotiated salary increases ($32.2 million) and inflationary costs ($11.8 million).

The amount of state allocation coming from university income sources-mostly tuition-would remain at the 1998-99 figure of $768.1 million in the Pataki plan.

The budget reduces by $56 million-from $280 million to $224 million-the funding in the second year of the five-year capital budget plan.

Wagner said that despite the cut, the capital plan was "still reasonable," although the goal last year had been to develop a five-year plan "with consistency." The Pataki plan "begins to alter that," which he called a "cause for concern."

The governor's proposal allocates $501.1 million for TAP, a figure that reflects a number of "adjustments" that are designed mainly, according to the proposal, "to encourage students to progress toward timely completion of an undergraduate degree."

Among the adjustments that Wagner said would have the most impact on UB students are:

- Establishing an "expected student participation" (ESP) equal to 25 percent of tuition while providing a TAP award of 75 percent of tuition. Students would be expected to meet the cost of the ESP through federal grants, campus-based aid, work study or student loans. Students now receive a TAP award of 90 percent of tuition and must fund the remaining 10 percent through the other revenue sources.

- Redefining full-time study as 15 credits vs. the current 12 credits for receipt of TAP. Students enrolling in and earning 15 credit hours per semester would receive full TAP awards. Students enrolling in 15 credits but earning less than 15 credits would receive 80 percent of a full-time award.

- Conforming family-income eligibility used for determining TAP awards from the current state net taxable income to the more widely used federal adjusted gross income.

Over the next several months, UB will need to look at its ongoing costs and determine how to manage them for 1999-2000, based on the fact the budget doesn't increase funding, Wagner said.

He pointed out that the budget process is just beginning with the release of the governor's plan.

In the past, the legislature "has been supportive of moves to restore programs for which we have ongoing obligations, and of student access, including TAP support," he said.

So what's the next step?

Last week's release of the executive budget is just the beginning of what most likely will become a "massive battle" for restoration of funding, according to Janet Penksa, associate vice president for university services responsible for UB's state-relations programs and initiatives.

SUNY was not alone in taking a hit in this year's executive budget, Penksa noted at the Jan. 28 Professional Staff Senate meeting. Hospitals also were hard hit, which will affect both medical students and patients. The proposed budget also decreases funding for K-12 education.

"And all this occurred, despite a $2 billion surplus," she said.

So, with a surplus on one hand and a budget that recommends "pretty big reductions" throughout the state, Penksa said she expects this year's budget negotiations to be "a lengthy, contentious budget dance."

Penksa, who joined UB in December, spent 14 years working with the New York State Assembly, most recently as secretary to the Ways and Means Committee. She was chief advisor and lead negotiator for assembly leadership on all fiscal and economic matters, as well as responsible for final preparation of the state budget.

It now is up to the legislature to act on the budget, she said. The governor also has 30 days to amend the executive budget. After that, the budget goes to the legislature's fiscal committees.

"Our strategy is going to be, first, get together with other universities and talk about maintaining the base," as well as working to get TAP funding restored, she said.

Once base funding and TAP are secured, she and others will be working to ensure funding for projects more specific to UB.

"We're going to have to be aggressive...and have a strong advocacy program," she said.

Those advocacy efforts will involve both the SUNY system and individual campuses.

The SUNY system will call campuses together to lobby jointly the state legislature. In addition, UB will talk to each legislator from the area, as well as legislative leaders, in an effort to get funding restored.

"We will leave no stone unturned," Penksa said.

UB's lobbying efforts also will need to expand beyond the traditional higher-education boundaries.

"We need to reach out to the business and medical communities for advocacy, too," she said.

And don't expect to see a final budget passed before the April 1 deadline, despite legislation that withholds legislators' paychecks when the budget is late, Penksa added.