2008 Woodie Awards
Board passes 2008-09 budget
Melissa Chi
Issue date: 7/7/08 Section: News
Previously, leftover funds from each department would completely carry over into the next fiscal year. For the 2008-2009 fiscal year, however, departments will only retain half of their rollover surplus.
"Of course there will be faculty members unhappy with the change of this policy," said Scott Scarborough, UT's senior vice president for finance and administration.
However, Scarborough said that he had conducted meetings with business managers from every college to explain the reasons behind the change.
"Even though some may disagree, at least they understand the reasoning behind it," he said. "Most universities do not carry forward the leftover fund from departments as it will cause a budget variance."
Scarborough said the change of the policy was a compromise. Instead of not carrying forward any leftover funds at all or carrying all of it, the new policy will carry forward only half of it, and the rest returns to the general fee account.
The Board of Trustees approved a $743 million operating budget on June 16 with $476 million for academics and $267 towards the UT Medical Center.
The administration budget went down by 1% which was reallocated to finance academic initiatives.
As a result of 29 budget hearings and other conversations, which Scarborough said was the first time UT has ever had such hearings, $13.1 million was reallocated to advance UT's strategic plan.
There were two types of hearing conducted for the fiscal year, Scarborough said. There are pre-hearings, which are on the college level and focus on aligning the budget with the strategic plan. These hearings are held between the provost and the dean of the college. The second type is when vice presidents and deans present the budget proposal formally to the provost.
No money was taken out of the College of Arts and Sciences budget as a number of faculty members and students feared.
"Although the budget may seem relatively flat, that doesn't mean that the College of Arts and Sciences and other colleges are not receiving any money," Scarborough said. Each year, there's a $500,000 reward to colleges and schools for significant enrollment growth."
"There is new revenue added to the budget, and we anticipate support from the state, a growth in students and a growth in auxiliary services," Scarborough said.
The new operating budget has a projected increase of 400 new undergraduate students and a six percent increase in patient revenue price, among others. There will also be an increase of $16 million in salaries and benefits.
In Scarborough's prior university, he said they started budgeting in August and would present in April. However at UT, he added, the budgeting was done in a timely fashion.
"We started sometime in January or February and were done by early June."
"Of course there will be faculty members unhappy with the change of this policy," said Scott Scarborough, UT's senior vice president for finance and administration.
However, Scarborough said that he had conducted meetings with business managers from every college to explain the reasons behind the change.
"Even though some may disagree, at least they understand the reasoning behind it," he said. "Most universities do not carry forward the leftover fund from departments as it will cause a budget variance."
Scarborough said the change of the policy was a compromise. Instead of not carrying forward any leftover funds at all or carrying all of it, the new policy will carry forward only half of it, and the rest returns to the general fee account.
The Board of Trustees approved a $743 million operating budget on June 16 with $476 million for academics and $267 towards the UT Medical Center.
The administration budget went down by 1% which was reallocated to finance academic initiatives.
As a result of 29 budget hearings and other conversations, which Scarborough said was the first time UT has ever had such hearings, $13.1 million was reallocated to advance UT's strategic plan.
There were two types of hearing conducted for the fiscal year, Scarborough said. There are pre-hearings, which are on the college level and focus on aligning the budget with the strategic plan. These hearings are held between the provost and the dean of the college. The second type is when vice presidents and deans present the budget proposal formally to the provost.
No money was taken out of the College of Arts and Sciences budget as a number of faculty members and students feared.
"Although the budget may seem relatively flat, that doesn't mean that the College of Arts and Sciences and other colleges are not receiving any money," Scarborough said. Each year, there's a $500,000 reward to colleges and schools for significant enrollment growth."
"There is new revenue added to the budget, and we anticipate support from the state, a growth in students and a growth in auxiliary services," Scarborough said.
The new operating budget has a projected increase of 400 new undergraduate students and a six percent increase in patient revenue price, among others. There will also be an increase of $16 million in salaries and benefits.
In Scarborough's prior university, he said they started budgeting in August and would present in April. However at UT, he added, the budgeting was done in a timely fashion.
"We started sometime in January or February and were done by early June."
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