PULLMAN – A $4.47 million reduction in WSU’s 2008-2009 fiscal year budget, which was requested by the state late last month, will be achieved by cuts of just under 1.5 percent from both administrative and academic units.
This second round of budget cuts will bring the total reductions made by the university to just over $10.5 million from a state allocation of nearly $254 million.
Joan King, executive director of planning and budget, said the provost and individual vice presidents have been informed of the level of the reductions and they are responsible for planning how the savings will be achieved within their units.
“Through these two rounds of cuts, I believe we have been able to protect our academic units as much as possible and to minimize the impact on the basic functions of the university. It has not been an easy process, but I think it has left us better prepared for what may lie ahead,” King said.
The university began to restrict hiring early this year and has adopted increasingly stringent controls on hiring as the budget situation has worsened. The university has also sharply restricted optional travel as a way to control costs.
Instructional faculty, the libraries and the urban campuses were among the units protected from the first round of cuts. They shared in the second round of reductions.
Overall, the academic side of the budget, which makes up 51.8 percent of the university’s permanent budget line, experienced 35.3 percent of the reductions.
This university is awaiting word, expected late next week, on Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget for the upcoming biennium. The state’s public universities have been warned that they may be facing a reduction of up to 20 percent.
WSU President Elson S. Floyd and Provost and Executive Vice President Warwick M. Bayly are co-chairing a University Budget Committee that will examine all of the university’s operations and help identify potential areas for reorganization or reduction in response to those upcoming budget proposals.
