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  may 18, 2009
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campus newS

President discusses budget at final ’08-’09 University Council meeting
By Matt Weeks
mweeks@uga.edu
The university should operate exactly the same in the next fiscal year as it has in this one and employees should not worry about losing their jobs, President Michael F. Adams told the University Council at its last meeting of the year April 21.

“My priority is to protect as many jobs as humanly possible,” he said. “All of you should go home for the summer as confident as you can be in this economy that your job is here, that we are a secure, strong, institution able to meet our responsibilities.”

Thanks to increases in tuition and student fees, federal stimulus money, and electricity and water conservation, the university will continue to teach classes and conduct business regularly despite a $47.7 million dollar shortfall in the main budget, Adams said. He addressed the university community after the state legislature and the University System of Georgia made final tweaks to their own budgets, which affect UGA’s allotment of state funds.

The budget should remain unchanged unless state lawmakers convene for an emergency session.

“The slightest change in the economic state of the university will mean all bets are off, and we will be forced to make changes,” Adams said.

Yet job assurances do not mean UGA won’t have to tighten its belt.

“I know there are still 450 vacant positions that have shifted the work onto the rest of us,” Adams said. “I know that travel funds are hard to come by, and that travel is critically important to the work of faculty and staff at a great university. I know that staff and administrative support is reduced in many offices, and that makes it hard to do your jobs.”

A video of his presentation and copies of talking points are available at www.uga.edu/news/ under the Special Reports section.


Regents approve faculty contract modification
The board of regents approved a plan May 12 that gives University System of Georgia presidents the authority to furlough any and all employees, including faculty, should the need arise. University System officials noted that there are no plans to furlough contract employees in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The board’s action changes a situation in which one fourth of the University System’s approximately 40,000 employees are excluded by contract from furloughs, but these employees account for approximately one-half of all personnel costs.

Tom Jackson, UGA’s vice president for public affairs, said the regents’ plan is “a prudent planning measure, but one which we do not expect to have to utilize unless the state budget situation worsens further.”
 


Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
286 Oconee St., Ste. 200N, Athens, GA 30602-1999
Juliett Dinkins (jdinkins@uga.edu): editor (706) 542-8017,
Janet Beckley (jbeckley@uga.edu): art director (706) 542-8170, Peter Frey (pfrey@uga.edu): photo editor (706) 542-8086,
Matthew Weeks (mweeks@uga.edu): senior reporter (706) 542-8024, Sara Freeland (freeland@uga.edu): reporter (706) 542-8077
Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu

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