UM campuses reallocating funds in light of higher health care costs

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BANGOR – The University of Maine System plans to reallocate $14 million to offset a 50 percent hike in health insurance premiums, the chief financial officer said Friday.

Joanne Yestramski said all seven campuses would assume a share of the burden based on the number of full-time employees. The University of Maine in Orono is taking the biggest hit and plans to reallocate $5 million, more than 3 percent of its $147 million budget.

Mark Anderson, interim chief financial officer for UM in Orono, said Friday during a public forum on the budget that the campus would request that the UMS board of trustees raise tuition by 4 percent.

An increase would have been in store even without the budget crunch, although the hike could be a percent higher than it would have been, he said after the meeting.

No layoffs have been identified yet, he said, noting that budget details still are being worked out.

“We are doing everything we can not to adversely affect students, so we’re trying to make sure there aren’t fewer classes,” he said. “There are some potential cuts in athletics and in student services, but we’ll try to deliver as much as we can and make it so it’s not an impact.”

Financial aid will be protected, “so there won’t be any reductions there,” he said.

But nothing he said made supporters of the Children’s Center feel better. A $122,000 cut has been proposed, half of the day care’s budget.

Children’s Center Director Gary Quimby said the cut would “require us to raise fees beyond [some] parents’ ability to pay.” Higher fees could result in the Department of Human Services refusing to subsidize the center, he said.

Marie Hayes, associate professor of psychology and co-chairman of President Peter Hoff’s Council on Women, said it was “an affirmative action issue,” and that the university was blocking women’s access to economic improvement.

“The Children’s Center is the reason why many women of reproductive age can participate fully in the community life of the campus and in their roles as professors, staff and nontraditional students,” she said.

Hayes said she and her co-chairman planned to outline the problem to Hoff next week. “We’re talking about something that looked to administration to be easy to cut, but we think it’s because the needs of women tend to be overlooked … at the administrative level,” she said.

Anderson said a committee has been created to study the impact of fee hikes on the center. He said the university does not intend to close it.

Officials from other campuses said they also were gathering comment from faculty, staff and students to help determine where reallocations could be made. Many of the readjustments likely will be made by not filling positions that have been vacated because of resignations and retirements, they said. Other savings will come about by limiting professional development and travel and purchasing fewer supplies.

“Certain things are off-limits, including [cutting] faculty and student financial aid. Those are areas we won’t touch,” said Roger Spear, vice president for administration at University of Maine at Farmington. That campus is looking to reallocate between $300,000 and $500,000, he said.

At the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where half a million dollars will have to be reallocated, President Nancy Hensel said employees may be asked if they would like to work 10 months instead of 12 or part time instead of full time, at least on a temporary basis.

University of Maine at Augusta is looking to reallocate $700,000, or 4 percent of its total $19.5 million budget, said Chief Financial Officer Richard Campbell. While there will be somewhat less money available, financial aid will be increased to students who are in the more costly programs such as dental hygiene.

“We’ll continue to try to solicit input and figure out how to shape this in a way that’s going to be least harmful to students,” Campbell said.

While Donald Zillman, interim president at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, declined to elaborate on the details of the budget, he said most of the reallocation would result from not filling administrative staff positions.

And at the University of Maine at Machias, President John Joseph said the campus was looking to reallocate $80,000, more than 1 percent of its $6.5 million budget.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” said Joseph. “We’ve very fortunate in that the attrition we’ve had – two retirements – happen to cover it.”

Yestramski said the Legislature’s appropriation for the system’s 2002-2003 budget looks to be a $6.9 million increase above the current $308 million. State appropriations make up a little more than half of the budget, she said. The rest is tuition and other student-related fees.

Tuition will increase systemwide largely because of “inflationary increases,” she said. Over the last five years, in-state tuition rates have gone up 21/2 to 5 percent, she said.

Explaining the reallocations during the public forum, UM’s Anderson said $3.2 million would be taken from academic affairs, $542,390 from research, $406,521 from student affairs, $564,580 from finance and administration, $77,486 from development, $43,306 from the president’s office and $698,495 from financial management.

That could translate to less fund raising and professional development for faculty, fewer library books and a reduction in student recruitment, he said.

Professors could be doing less research, “and those doing it will have to scramble to find other money to keep it going,” he said. The number of athletic scholarships and coaches could be affected, he said.

The administration decided not to make cuts across the board because of past criticisms that those types of reductions don’t “reflect priorities,” he said.

By March 29, campus budget proposals have to be to the chancellor’s office.