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No bailout from Albany
Although state legislators haven’t yet approved Gov. David A. Paterson’s proposed budget for 2009-10, Provost Satish K. Tripathi told members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday that UB shouldn’t expect a bailout from Albany anytime soon.
No matter how you look at it, he said, the final result equals a second year of significant budget reductions to SUNY.
“Some of you may have received an email saying our budget is good—it is not,” he said. “The budget problems are not gone—they’re still there—no matter what you hear otherwise. Even if you don’t include the tuition sweep, we [SUNY] still have about $50 million in cuts to our campus-related fees and other self-generated revenues, in [taxes on] research and in reductions to some university-wide programs.”
If the “sweep” is implemented, the state could retain up to 80 percent of the revenues generated by SUNY’s recent tuition hike, he added, noting that equates to about an additional $63.5 million in lost funds.
“SUNY computes that state support last year—2008-09—was $1.282 billion,” he said. “For 2009-10, it’s $1.116 billion, [excluding] the mandated salary increases.”
Last year, Tripathi said UB bridged much of the $21 million in permanent cuts using one-time reserve funds. In a second year of budget reductions, “it gets harder,” he said.
Also taking a hit is UB’s endowment, which has seen a drop in value related to the plunging market on Wall Street, he said.
“For that, we are looking at anywhere from $12 to $18 million, depending on how you look at the numbers,” Tripathi added.
If there’s a silver lining to the current scenario, it’s that nearly all the cuts threatening high-profile research centers and programs, among them MCEER and the Research Institute on Addictions, are no longer in the budget under consideration in Albany, he said.
In other business, Jeffrey Brady, executive director for Campus Dining & Shops (CDS), updated the FSEC on the various changes, renovations and innovations recently implemented by CDS.
Highlights included the installation of several new eateries on campus, including a restaurant specializing in Asian cuisine and several Tim Hortons outlets; the complete renovation of the main conference room in the Center for Tomorrow; the creation of an on-campus pizza delivery service for faculty, staff and students, and the launch of a 8.75 percent discount service for faculty and staff who put cash on their UB cards.
A new multimillion-dollar line of revenue also is opening up for UB, as CDS takes over catering responsibilities for the Jacobs Executive Development Center, he said.
Anita Hathaway, a dietician for CDS, discussed a number of “green” initiatives recently undertaken by CDS, including switching to single-napkin dispensers, offering discounts to student using refillable travel mugs, composting leftover food and eliminating trays in all dining halls to reduce waste and encourage portion control.
CDS also purchases the entire annual crop of three local farms, Brady added, and aims to buy 22 percent of its food from local sources within the next several years.
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