By the time this issue hits the stand, the March Senate meeting will have occurred (Mar. 22nd). The budget continues to be the main focus; we finally have a date established (March 25) for when the Ontario budget will come out, the release of the provincial budget is critical in university budgeting as the level of grants for the 2010/11 year won’t be known till the provincial policy makers tell us.
In the Senate Finance Committee meeting, President David Johnston said that it is a ‘rosy’ outlook to anticipate that we will get the same level of funding as previous years in terms of government grants. The proposed budget for the 2010/11 year has a built-in $2.8 million structural deficit (structural meaning that they made the budget with this $2.8 defect in mind…not that the 2.8 million deficit comes from structures like buildings). Top administrators have assured the Board of Governors that by the end of fiscal 2010/11 they feel they can cut this deficit down to essentially zero. All Deans are required to cut their Faculty budgets by 3.5%. Based on brief comments from several Deans in attendance, it seems this 3.5% will be achieved by postponing hiring and making do with the resources we have now…even if that is not ideal. There is a general consensus that the 3.5% cut can be absorbed without layouts or unpaid vacations. Dean Sedra was not in attendance so at this time I cannot provide details on how our Faculty will deal with the 3.5% cut.
Some interesting notes about the preliminary 2010/11 budget:
1) The cost of insurance to the University will increase by 25% compared with last year. On first thought, it would seem this is because of new buildings; however Dennis Huber (VP Admin & Finance) said that the majority of this increase is actually from significant increase in the insurance premiums – a reflection on insurance industry trends across the country.
2) The ‘International Fund’ that is used to fund activities such as UAE campus, or partnerships with campus in other parts of the globe will see an increase of 145%. This is a reflection on the Universities’ push to attract more international students to assist with budget problems. (International Students pay more)
3) The utilities costs (electricity, heating, etc.) are projected to increase 15% for two reasons. The first is the sheer volume of new buildings coming that need power, and secondly the rates are projected to rise. An interesting note: a portion of our utilities are bought on the open market, while the rest is purchased at pre-negotiated fixed prices.
4) Despite the budget difficulties, the Student Support category of the budget will see a 3.4% increase, reaffirming UW’s commitment to ‘leave no deserving student behind.’ It is worthy to note however, that almost ½ of this increase is to support international graduate students; this reflects two of the Universities goals, one being to get more international students and the other to significantly grow its graduate program population.
The next few weeks will be critical in the construction of the budget, as everything needs to be finalized and locked down before the end of April. The new fiscal year starts in May.
Look for an extensive update in the first issue of the spring term for more details. Until then, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at senate@engmail
Good luck on finals! And to those lucky 2010’s, congratulations on finishing!
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