The Cadre -

10 February 1998

Cuts and stitches to the UPEI budget

The pre-budget report is out

By Jamy-Ellen Proud

Neil Henry, UPEI Vice President Finance and Facili- ties, gave a pre-budget to the UPEI Student Union Council on Sunday, January 25. He reported on last year’s budget, and forecasted num- bers for this year’s budget.

Last year, University Administration asked the Pro- vincial Government fora three- year plan. They wanted to be able to plan for upcoming budg- ets, instead of having to scram- ble to make last minute adjust- ments. As a Board of Gover. nors budget committee works on the budget for much of the school year, but they do not know how much money they will be getting from the gov- ernment, usually in late March or early April. The provincial government responded by ep a Six percent cut to the UPEI Operating Grant for the 1997-98 fiscal ,a four zero percent cut in 1999-00 [an election year -- go figure].

For 1997-98, administra- tion had to find a way to trim $2.1 million dollars from its operating budget. This de- crease was necessary due to a combination of cuts to the erating grant ($939,516) and other revenues ($54,128), as well as cost increases in the areas of staff salaries, repay- ment of the debt that was in- curred to renovate the Cass Building, the costs of the new B. Ed. Program, and other ar- eas.

How did they get the

We have all heard of the now-famous early retirement plan initiated last year. This resulted in $631, 936 in cost savings. Faculty budgets were cut by $139,954, and the budg- ets of Academic Support, which includes the Library, the Registrar’s Office, the Depart- ment of Student and others, and Finance and Facilities were cut by $479,655. The office of the

President and Administrative Support (e.g. Alumni develop- ment and Public Relations) was cut $17,093. Unfortunately, these cuts didn’t make up for the grant cut and increases in cost, so tuition was raised to bring in $403,092. Newtuition fees gathered for the new B.Ed. Program also helped.

The drawbacks from these cuts were apparent on campus this . Six profes- sors who took the early retire- ment option were with sessional lecturers, instead of tenure-track professors. The cuts to Academic Support ma- terialized as a decrease in the number of personal and aca- demic counsellors at Student Development from three to two, and as a decrease in the number of journals that were purchased by the library, not to mention the changes at our beloved rink.

Henry reported that the budget process is being

Back in 1862

A new cafe in Main Building

BY ED FOBES

There is a new snack-

range as other food outlets on Coffee is $1.17 fora

and $1.55 for a large. The food selection dif- ee ae

There are no subs or sand-

wiches. There are “wraps”,

or sandwich ingredients

in tortilla The

comes from a local sup- available.

The new outlet is called “1862 Cafe and ” The name commemorates the wing of Main

that houses the new outlet, which was built in 1862.

this year. All of the obvious cuts to service deprtments were made last year; this year’s cuts may result in more dramatic changes on campus. Many of the facu mieibics that were eligible for early re- tirement packages last took them; savings made

that initiative will be fewer this year.

Non-labour costs for the university continue to rise with inflation, and the administra- tion is currently negotiating with the Faculty Association regarding salary increases for faculty. committee is still under pressure to minimize lay- offs and tuition increases while maintaining a high financial comittment to student serv- ices.

So what's the picture for next Without taking into ee ee tuition increases, the budget committee needs to trim $835,472 from the 1998-99 budget. Projections are that a

small amount of this money will be taken out of the li- brary’s acquisitions budget, and a total of $66,000 may be cut from the budget of Student Development. This includes the $61,000 it requires to run the Student Health Centre, which the administration has pledged to wipe off the Oper- ating Budget this . How- ever, are for ways to take the Health Centre off the budget without closing it.

Only $62,200 is made from each percent increase in tuition.

We need to voice our concerns to the Provincial Gov- ernment. Although a four per- cent decrease in the UPEI Operating Grant was pledged for this year, this is not carved in stone.

If we make enough noise about it, perhaps we can get the cut decreased to a man- ageable level, if such a thing exists.

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