BANGOR – University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal announced Friday he plans to recommend to trustees May 20 that in-state tuition be increased by an average 4.6 percent next year.

He also said he may be back asking for another tuition boost because of the executive order Gov. Angus King issued Thursday. The system is being asked to cut approximately 2 percent, or $3.6 million, of the $181.8 million appropriated by the state for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The order also affects the Maine Technical College System and Maine Maritime Academy.

Westphal said he would call an emergency session of the board – possibly next month – to present a plan containing revisions to the total $396.3 million budget that will go before trustees this month during a regular meeting in Portland.

The executive order renders the entire 2003 budget “tentative,” Westphal said. Trustees may decide to forgo a vote on the budget, or they could “approve it based on what we’ve put together,” he said.

Although everything’s on the table, “we’ll try to keep tuition down as much as possible and to protect our people,” the chancellor said.

“We’ll make cuts in the best interests of the students. It may mean that it won’t be an across-the-board cut,” he said. “Some campuses have cut a lot already and [any further reductions] would mean firing people.”

This isn’t the first time that the 2003 budget has taken a beating. A couple of months ago officials were forced to reallocate $14 million to offset a 50 percent hike in health insurance premiums.

Meanwhile, Maine Technical College System spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick said Friday that officials hadn’t yet had a chance to assess their budget revision plan. “It’s premature to say what the impact will be,” she said.

The proposed UMS budget calls for the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine to increase tuition by 4.3 percent, UM-Farmington by 6.8 percent, and the other four campuses by 4.6 percent.

Joanne Yestramski, chief financial officer for UMS, called the tuition increase “very reasonable” and said the hike is significantly less than the “estimated proposed increases” at other public institutions.

For example, at $5,550 per year, the University of Maine’s proposed undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees are the lowest among the other land-grant universities in New England.

The University of Rhode Island is next to the bottom at $5,760, while the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont are proposing the highest – $8,155 and $8,960 respectively.

The proposed budget also includes a hike in room and board rates, ranging from 3.4 percent at UM to 5.4 percent at UM-Presque Isle.

That puts the Orono campus – at $5,922 per year for room and board – the third-lowest among the other New England public universities.

Other UMS budget proposals include saving $8.2 million by “standardizing” faculty workloads so adjunct professors aren’t needed as often; replacing equipment less frequently; and decreasing travel, materials and professional development.

While there have been some work force reductions systemwide because of attrition and reorganization, Yestramski said UMPI is the only campus planning “major cuts.” It is proposing to eliminate the director of physical facilities position and a part-time academic advising position.

More cuts could come, UMPI President Nancy Hensel said. Officials are looking at programs with low enrollment, she said.

“We’ve tried to look at what’s in the best interest of the institution in the long term. We’ll continue to provide the best we can for our students,” Hensel said.

The advising position cut was possible since another faculty member has been involved in advising students, Hensel said.

Deciding to eliminate the physical facilities director was difficult, “but we felt we could manage,” she said.