At a May 19 budget briefing in the Tate Theatre, UGA President Michael F. Adams said the university is not planning furloughs for the fiscal year 2011, but very limited layoffs may occur.
“While I expect that 99 percent of your jobs will be protected in the 2011 budget, I cannot tell you that it will be 100 percent,” he said. “There will likely be some very limited A-budget layoffs and program reductions and a few more, I regret to say, in the B-budgets, given the numbers. But we are most likely past the possibility of large-scale institutional layoffs.”
He said that any job cuts will be done by deans and vice presidents by September or October. Cuts will likely be in areas that “we could live without,” he said.
He added that the layoffs would not reach 2003 levels.
Adams also said the regents, legislature and governor have not called for furlough days in the 2011 budget.
“We will not do them if we are not ordered to,” Adams said.
The 2011 A-budget, which covers the majority of employees, is $327 million-about $44 million smaller than the 2010 budget and $71 million smaller than the 2009 budget. The budget most resembles the 1999 budget, Adams said.
“But unlike 1999, we now have a larger enrollment (34,885 to 30,912), more buildings to maintain and the salary increases that occurred over the past decade,” he said.
State appropriations for the B-budget are down 20 percent, or almost $20 million, in the past two years. The B-budget encompasses units that extend the university’s research and public service missions throughout the state.
The regents approved a $1,000-per-year tuition increase for incoming freshmen, second-year students, and students at UGA for more than four years, which will give the university an additional $17.5 million.
Adams said that over the past 18-24 months of the recession, the university has maintained educational quality for students and protected as many jobs as possible.
He also reiterated his commitment to replenishing the faculty ranks, as there are currently fewer faculty members than in 2001.
Adams announced that 25 job searches will begin this fall to fill faculty positions in high-need areas-particularly in teaching lower division courses.
“I know that many of you, both faculty and staff, are working harder to cover the work previously done by colleagues and coworkers, and I thank you for that. Your hard work, has in essence, saved the jobs of many of your colleagues,” he said. “I think the institution has in many ways been changed by the economic distress of the last two years, but I still believe that when the economy does turn, the financial position of the university will be stronger than it was two years ago.”
