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June
11, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) --
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today
approved a $1.34 billion budget for fiscal year 2002-2003
that President Lee. T. Todd Jr. said is very people-oriented
and supports the university's aspiration to become
a top-20 public research university by the year 2020.
The new operating budget increases UK spending by
$35.3 million over the previous year.
The major
sources of revenue for the budget are a state appropriation
of $313.4 million; student fees, $139.8 million; UK
Hospital revenues, $321.1 million; gifts, grants and
contracts, $111.2 million; and affiliated corporations,
$232 million.
The remainder
comes from county appropriations, endowment income,
investment income, restricted funds, auxiliary funds,
and sales and services. In a budget briefing for board
members and news media Monday, President Todd noted
that this is the first year UK Hospital budgeted revenues
will exceed the state appropriation.
Todd said
UK's budget was created on the assumption the state
will use the spending outlined in House Bill 1. On
the "Bonds for Brains" proposal, President Todd said,
"I'm confident it will be there, but I would feel
even more confident if it was passed."
In his
briefing, President Todd said the major objectives
of the 2002-2003 UK annual operating budget are: (1)
find a way to absorb the $6 million recurring state
budget cut without passing the reduction to the academic
units, (2) significantly improve health plan benefits
to employees, (3) give at least a modest salary supplement
based on merit performance, and (4) fund program improvements.
Todd said the new budget assumes no new state operating
or capital funds. No major new facilities are anticipated
in the new budget.
UK will
follow through on certain planned capital projects,
Todd said, including spending $397,000 on the Koinonia
House renovation, $600,000 for a Fine Arts Library/Information
Science Renovation, $500,000 for an electrical project
in the Singletary Center for the Arts, $1 million
for classroom improvements, and $914,500 for miscellaneous
renovations.
The renovation
of the Koinonia House on Rose Street will provide
modern rehearsal and practice studios for UK's top-rated
voice music program, including the opera program headed
by Everett McCorvey.
In discussing
the need for UK to become more aggressive in seeking
outside funding for its budget, Todd cautioned that
the university "cannot wait each year in hope that
the General Assembly will give us adequate funding
to achieve all that we aspire to achieve. I am afraid
that day is past."
Instead
of "whining" about dwindling state dollars, Todd said,
"We must be more creative and more entrepreneurial
if we are to sustain our progress on the road to excellence."
To aid
the colleges in their quest to bring in more research
dollars, Todd said the budget includes $598,000 for
new positions to provide more direct assistance to
faculty and colleges to meet various business and
administrative requirements of sponsored projects
including budget development, grant management and
sponsor costing policies.
"These
positions will pay for themselves as they bring in
research money," the president emphasized.
The president
added that UK will use "working capital reserves"
to make one-time expenditures in 2002-2003 that "will
move the University ahead in a year when state revenues
are cut back."
Todd said
"enlivened creativity" in the UK budget process enabled
the university to accumulate $29.1 million for certain
major financial goals, including absorbing the $6
million state budget cut without reducing academic
budgets.
Funds were
used to implement recommendations of a Health Care
Task Force to hold the line on health insurance costs
for single employees and provide a substantially higher
percentage of family health insurance coverage to
increase life insurance; to fund a one-time faculty
and staff salary supplement of 3 percent based on
merit; and to fund some program improvement throughout
the university.
In his
budget briefing message, Todd was highly complimentary
of the work of the Health Benefits Task Force he appointed
during his first week in office which was headed by
Thomas W. Samuel, a professor of health management
in the School of Public Health and College of Health
Sciences.
The new
budget funds the recommendations of the task force
including increasing the share of an employee's family
health coverage paid for by the university from 32
to 54 percent and increasing to 73 percent the coverage
of an employee plus children plan.
The president
also announced a new fringe benefit for all regular
UK faculty and staff, except UK Hospital employees,
granting the day after Thanksgiving as an additional
paid holiday.
Other
program improvements funded in the new budget include:
-- A new
Commission on the Status of Women office and a new
Commission on Diversity office, both reporting to
the president, totaling $179,000;
-- Substantial
scholarship and fellowship increases, including the
new Legacy Program which provides in-state tuition
rates to out-of-state students who are the children
of UK alums; Governor's Scholars/Governor's School
for the Arts; and the Lyman T. Johnson Scholarship
and Commonwealth Incentive Program;
-- A Collaborative
Center for Literacy Development totaling $600,000;
Instructional classroom support totaling $685,000
in the Provost area and $315,000 in the Medical Center;
Research equipment maintenance of $550,000;
-- A new
$300,000 Morehead/Corbin Residency;
-- A combination
of $708,000 recurring and $250,000 nonrecurring funding
in support of the College of Nursing clinical doctorate,
the School of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy
doctoral program, and programs in the Biomedical Sciences
and the Center for Instructional Sciences. The Medical
Center will provide additional support to these programs
in the amount of $238,000;
--An additional
$200 in current operating expenses for each full-time
faculty member totaling $240,000 to the colleges in
the Provost area, and
-- A $400,000
Provost area appropriation to fund, on a shared basis,
enhancements of educational and research areas endorsed
by the Futures Committee.
Acting
Provost Mike Nietzel said the increase in operating
expenses for the colleges will have the effect of
permitting deans to fill faculty vacancies they have
left unfilled in past years in order to save money
to fund their operating budgets. Nietzel called this
tactic "an historic budget problem that had grown
in magnitude due to regular cuts into the academic
programs."
Nietzel
also noted the new budget adds three new faculty positions
in the Gatton College of Business an Economics and
two new faculty positions in the College of Communications
and Information Studies.
President
Todd called the new budget "one of the biggest challenges
I have faced in my first year as president." He said
his budget has the objective of "tearing down the
'silos' and moving toward one university."
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