UPDATED: Costs on the chopping block

By Jedd Rosche

Published June 8, 2006

Revised article posted June 15, 2006

After balancing the budget in May for the next school year, the UM system is looking to cut administrative costs by 10 percent from each of the four campuses in the system.

UM system spokesman Joe Moore said each of the four campuses - UM-St. Louis, UM-Rolla, UM-Kansas City and MU - will report possible budget cuts to the UM system Board of Curators.

He said the board expects to hear more developed plans at its meeting next month in Kansas City.

Moore said he could not comment on specifics about what the UM system planned to cut under a 10 percent budget decrease.

"Those are details the UM system is still working on," Moore said. "We will continue to be budgeting dynamically so that revenue meets our costs."

In May, the Board of Curators approved the UM system's $410 million operating budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1. It also supported the Missouri General Assembly's and Gov. Matt Blunt's higher education proposed budget.

In January, Blunt recommendeda $17 million increase to higher education funding, translating to $7.8 million more for the UM system - the biggest increase since 2002.

Nikki Krawitz, UM system vice president for finance and administration, said even with the increase, campuses need to be flexible to meet rising mandatory costs with unreliable state funding. The rising costs and lean state funds resulted in a $5.2 million gap between revenue and expenditures this year.

Krawitz said to pay bills, "the campuses planned to spend down on the reserves they had from before and to reduce other costs."

Krawitz said the campuses have to look at what expenditures they could terminate, particularly administrative costs.

"For example, in Kansas City, the campus did some reorganizing, and eliminated some positions," she said.

Krawitz did not elaborate on which positions were eliminated.

Krawitz also said the small increase in state funds led to cutting an Alzheimer's program on the MU campus.

"The Alzheimer's program was a statutorily funded program paid for by state appropriations, not the MU campus," Krawitz said.

Maria Curtis, the student representative to the board, said after hearing the finance report in May, she felt the state's higher education funding was in an optimistic state, though she could predict how appropriations would be in the future.

"I felt that right now, we are in a positive situation," Curtis said. "We need to continue to find innovative ways to increase efficiency."

Curtis said the UM system needs new and creative ways to solve budget shortages, but did not give any examples as to what programs could be cut.

"The idea that some units may be able to be combined into one system would be more efficient," Curtis said. "On-campus units that provide the same service could be consolidated."

Article originally posted June 8, 2006:

After balancing the budget in May for the next school year, the UM system is looking to cut administrative costs by 10 percent from each of the four campuses in the system.

UM system spokesman Joe Moore said each of the four campuses - UM-St. Louis, UM-Rolla, UM-Kansas City and MU - will report possible budget cuts to the UM system Board of Curators.

He said the board expects to hear more developed plans at its meeting next month in Kansas City.

Moore said he could not comment on specifics about what the UM system planned to cut under a 10 percent budget decrease.

"Those are details the UM system is still working on," Moore said. "We will continue to be budgeting dynamically so that revenue meets our costs."

In May, the Board of Curators approved the UM system's $410 million operating budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1. It also supported the Missouri General Assembly's and Gov. Matt Blunt's higher education proposed budget.

In January, Blunt recommendeda $17 million increase to higher education funding, translating to $7.8 million more for the UM system - the biggest increase since 2002.

Nikki Krawitz, UM system vice president for finance and administration, said even with the increase, campuses need to be flexible to meet rising mandatory costs with unreliable state funding. The rising costs and lean state funds resulted in a $5.2 million gap between revenue and expenditures this year.

Krawitz said to pay bills, "the campuses planned to spend down on the reserves they had from before and to reduce other costs."

Krawitz said the campuses have to look at what expenditures they could terminate, particularly administrative costs.

"For example, in Kansas City, the campus did some reorganizing, and eliminated some positions," she said.

Krawitz did not elaborate on which positions were eliminated.

Krawitz also said the small increase in state funds led to cutting an Alzheimer's program on the MU campus.

"The Alzheimer's program was a statutorily funded program paid for by state appropriations, not the MU campus," Krawitz said.

Maria Curtis, the student representative to the board, said after hearing the finance report in May, she felt the UM system was in a volatile yet optimistic state.

"I felt that right now, we are in a positive situation," Curtis said. "We need to continue to find innovative ways to increase efficiency."

Curtis said the UM system needs new and creative ways to solve budget shortages, but did not give any examples as to what programs could be cut.

"The idea that some units may be able to be combined into one system would be more efficient," Curtis said. "On-campus units that provide the same service could be consolidated."