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Columns::May 19, 2003
Research professor is named Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
CCRC expansion is expected to boost local economy by more than $14 million
Commencement 2003: A time of tears (and cheers)
Good job: Employee efforts recognized
Retirees
Campus News
Budget includes funds for three key university projects
By Tom Jackson
tjackson@uga.edu
Three key UGA construction projects took a step forward in the recently concluded Georgia General Assembly session.
The fiscal year 2003 amended budget includes $8.6 million in bonds which, when added to the $1.4 million appropriated last year, completes the state’s portion of funding for the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences. The state funds match $10 million in federal funding and $20 million to be generated by the sponsored research activities that will be associated with the facility.
The state’s fiscal year 2004 budget provides $2.5 million in bonds for design of the next phase of the Performing and Visual Arts Center, which includes an addition to the Georgia Museum of Art and a new home for the Lamar Dodd School of Art. The project will move to number four on the board of regents’ priority funding list for the fiscal year 2005 budget request.
“We are particularly pleased that the legislature saw fit to move this important project forward in a very tight budget year,” says President Michael F. Adams. “With this funding, we can put the coming year to good use in planning the facility with hopes that construction funding will be forthcoming next year.”
The amended budget for fiscal year 2003 also includes $15 million in bonds toward the renovation of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Health Research Center, to match a potential National Institutes of Health grant for which the college will apply. The NIH grant application requires a commitment of state funding.
The 2003 amended budget includes $25 million in bonds for major repair and rehabilitation funding for the University System, which, with the original fiscal year 2003 appropriation, brings that total to $56 million for the year. For fiscal year 2004, the MRR amount is $20 million in bonds. Officials hope a similar supplemental appropriation in the next legislative session can bring that amount as well to the current annual level.
The General Assembly funded $81.5 million in enrollment growth funding under the board of regents funding formula, but also cut $23.6 million in system formula funding as part of the fiscal year 2004 austerity cut. This is in addition to the fiscal year 2003 holdbacks of $73 million, for a total system budget reduction to date of $96.6 million. Total state funding cuts to the university from fiscal year 2002 through fiscal year 2004 now stand at more than 11 percent.
“Protecting people’s jobs” remains a primary goal as the state budget continues to decline, according to Adams, who predicts the regents will adopt a substantial tuition increase at their May 21 meeting.
Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Henry M. Huckaby, who has also served since November as Gov. Sonny Perdue’s interim chief financial officer, says he expects additional budget cuts before the end of the calendar year.
“The revenue on which the budget is based is not a good foundation,” Huckaby told reporters May 1. |
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