As the Sept. 20 deadline approaches for University officials to send the 2003-2004 budget proposals to Richmond, President John T. Casteen III is revising his answer to the question of whether or not the current fiscal crisis is worse than the one in 1991.
He now says it is.
In a public meeting held yesterday in a packed Newcomb Hall Theater, Casteen and Colette Sheehy, vice president of management and budget, presented 2003-2004 budget projections -- ones that include a second tuition hike nearly identical to the one made last year.
"We do have the ability to raise tuition again this year," Sheehy said. "We figure we'll probably have to do something similar."
The University, like all state institutions, will be submitting three budget proposals based on possible state funding cuts of 7 percent, 11 percent or 15 percent.
The General Assembly has yet to decide the actual cut levels, although the lower figures would be a little too optimistic, according to Casteen and Sheehy.
A 7 percent cut would resemble the budget slash that the administration made in 1991.
"We are hoping for less than 15 percent," Casteen said. "But we're hearing at the state level that they cannot get where they need to be."
Of the three spending plans, Casteen said the 15 percent cut mark would be "very hard" on the University.
In addition to expanding on last year's hiring restrictions, the state will be keeping half of this year's maintenance reserve allocations, which pay for basic upkeep of University facilities.
"This will have a serious impact on what we're going to have to do to maintain our buildings," Sheehy said. "It will be a real challenge that we're going to have to deal with."
These discouraging predictions follow closely behind recent news that the state finished the last fiscal year $237 million below forecast. This jarring shortfall prompted Warner to order an immediate review of the state's finances.
It also prompted Leonard W. Sandridge, the University's executive vice president and chief operating officer, to issue a July memo to all vice presidents and deans calling the budget uncertainties a "very serious matter."
"It is unlikely that we will be able to take substantial additional reductions without affecting jobs and services," Sandridge wrote in the memo.
The new budget forecast announced a month later revealed the worst -- that Virginia faces a gap of $1.5 billion for the 2002-2004 budget.
Although frustrating to tuition payers and taxpayers affected by the fumbled figures, Casteen avoided blaming the legislators in Richmond at yesterday's briefing.
"It is difficult to point the finger at anyone because nobody around to solve the problem was here when it was created," he said. "Our intention is to come through this thing stronger than we went into it."
Casteen was emphatic about the University's commitment to keeping its current staff and faculty.
Firing wage earners, Casteen said, would place an enormous stress on the Charlottesville community in the midst of a recession.
Additionally, the loss of faculty would threaten the quality and quantity of academic programs and offerings, and ultimately, the school's reputation, he said.
"If you go through the process of cutting personnel, the damage that's done does not just go to the end of the recession," Casteen said.
Meetings such as the one held yesterday will continue throughout the year, as more concrete details emerge from the General Assembly in the following months.
"Things are coming out of Richmond daily, and other actions may have to be taken," Sheehy said. "We don't have all the answers today."
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