Des Moines Register
05-04-06
Geoffroy: Budget for state universities falls short
LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. – Iowa State University, President Gregory Geoffroy said today the
state budget approved for public universities in Iowa for 2007 falls short of
expectations, in a letter the university's faculty and staff.
Geoffroy said that even though the statehouse voted to provide Regent
institutions with $40 million in new money, $29 million of that is in the form of
one-time cash, not money that can be used year after year to pay for ongoing
expenses, such as salaries.
ISU would receive $4.4 million in recurring state money, a 1.86 increase,
Geoffroy said.
"This level of funding will severely limit the level of compensation increases we
can give our employees and the availability of funds for other recurring cost
increases, including our very large increases in utility costs," he writes.
Geoffroy also said selected budget cuts will ripple across the university, as it
creates a pool of $1 million for additional salary increases for the Provost to use
to "address particular issues of faculty salary competitiveness." He also
encouraged departments at ISU to juggle their money so their achieve an
average salary increase of 3 percent or higher.
(Following is the text from a letter Iowa State University President Gregory
Geoffroy sent to all faculty and staff this morning.)
May 4, 2006
To the faculty and staff of Iowa State University:
The Iowa General Assembly has finally passed an FY 2007 budget with funding
for the Regent institutions, and I am writing to explain what it means for Iowa
State. Keep in mind that the Regents had requested a base increase of $40
million ($16 million for ISU) that would be used to fund the ongoing operating
costs of the universities. In return, the Regents agreed to hold the tuition increase
to 4 percent.
Although this budget may be portrayed as fully funding the Regents' request by
providing $40 million in new funds, in reality it falls far short since only $11 million
is for an actual increase to the general operating budgets of the Regent
universities. All of the remaining $29 million for the Regents is in the form of onetime, non-recurring funds, and $20 million of that is directed solely to economic
development initiatives, of which Iowa State's share is $11.6 million. While those
one-time funds are certainly appreciated, none can be used to cover the
recurring operating costs of the university.
In addition to those funds, the final budget includes $5 million in planning money
for an addition to Gilman Hall, $2 million in one-time facilities funding for
Veterinary Medicine, and a $1 million operating increase for the Veterinary
Diagnostic Laboratory.
Of the $11 million in recurring funds, Iowa State will receive $4.4 million, a 1.86
percent increase to this year's recurring appropriation. This is the only new
money we will receive in state appropriations to support the core mission of the
university and our recurring costs. This level of funding will severely limit the level
of compensation increases we can give our employees and the availability of
funds for other recurring cost increases, including our very large increases in
utility costs. Some of those costs will be covered with the one-time funding
described above, but that only defers funding of those recurring costs to future
years.
With this level of recurring state appropriations, we will be able to distribute to
units salary increase funds that correspond to 2.5 percent of the salary base for
faculty and P&S staff. We will encourage units, as they are able, to reallocate
funds internally to achieve an average salary increase level of 3 percent or higher
and to be sensitive to the overall increased cost of living. Units will also be
requested to give special attention to market competitiveness for P&S staff, and
we will establish a pool of $1 million of additional salary increase funds for the
Provost to use to address particular issues of faculty salary competitiveness. This
level of salary increase allocation will require selective budget cuts to be
identified next fiscal year in order to bring our future budgets into balance.
This very small state appropriations increase to our base operating budget is
extremely disappointing. The 1.86 percent increase is substantially below the
rate of inflation, and it is significantly below the 4 percent funding increase given
to Iowa's community colleges and to Iowa's private colleges, through the private
college tuition grants program. It is just one more sign of the steady erosion of
state funding for Iowa's public universities, a trend that shows no sign of abating.
Our recurring state funding now stands at the level it was for the 1997-98 budget
year, without considering inflationary costs. This budget sends a strong message
from our state leaders that they expect an increasing share of the cost of
operating Iowa's public universities to be borne by our students, through
increased tuition.
It is important that all those who care about public higher education continue to
communicate to our elected leaders and to the people of Iowa our concerns over
this erosion of public support for Iowa's universities and how essential it is that
we have adequate funding so that we don't slip into mediocrity.
I appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this budget
process. And I want to emphasize that while the budget outlook is disappointing,
it should not overshadow what has been a very good year for Iowa State, and I
want to thank everyone for your good efforts in making it so successful.
Sincerely,
Gregory L. Geoffroy
President