UM to meet cuts by reducing hires

ORONO – The University of Maine will make up for a midyear loss of $923,000 in state appropriations with tuition generated from increased enrollment and by leaving some faculty and staff positions unfilled, the interim chief financial officer said this week.

The loss is the result of Gov. Angus King’s announcement in December that he was cutting the University of Maine System’s appropriation by $1.85 million.

Budget cuts have been distributed among campuses in proportion to each one’s share of the total system budget.

Describing UM’s latest course of action as a “selective hiring moratorium,” interim chief financial officer Mark Anderson said Thursday that some positions must be filled to “satisfy the educational needs of additional students.”

“This a very delicate balance. Our primary mission is to take care of those students who were going out of state to public and private universities, but decided they can do just as well educationally here at a much lower cost. We really feel good about convincing them to stay in Maine to get their education and we want to be sure they get the high-quality education offered them.”

The latest cut had been expected, according to Anderson. “We knew it was likely to happen. It was just a question of how big it would be,” he said.

The system’s seven campuses already had absorbed a $3.5 million cut announced in the fall.

Several months before that, a 50 percent increase in health insurance premiums prompted the system to “reallocate” $14 million.

Cuts to the system over the past year represent the equivalent of a 10 percent reduction in the system’s state subsidy, according to UMS spokesman John Diamond.

Whether this latest hit changes UMS Chancellor Joseph Westphal’s plan to ask the Legislature for a 12.9 percent funding increase to boost enrollment without increasing tuition, remains to be seen, according to Diamond.

During its regularly scheduled meeting early next week, the UMS board of trustees will discuss “whether there’s any modification” to the biennial budget request, Diamond said.

“The chancellor has been talking with the new governor’s transition team about the budget request and he’ll be relating those discussions to the board.”

Westphal pledged in a statement that the most recent financial losses won’t be made up with midyear tuition increases.

Other UMS campuses have planned similar strategies to deal with the funding cut. Positions will be left vacant and travel expenses will be drastically reduced. Several campuses are hoping for increased spring enrollments to help see them through.

The latest cuts mean that UM at Machias will lose between $40,000 and $45,000; UM at Augusta, $100,000; UM at Presque Isle, $66,000; UM at Fort Kent, $38,000; UM at Farmington, $100,000; and the University of Southern Maine, $450,000.

At UMPI, “we’re watching closely for classes with small enrollment that we can cancel temporarily,” said Richard Kimball, vice president for academic affairs.

“We’ll find some way administratively to suck it up,” said UMFK President Richard Cost who’s looking at reducing the budgets for athletic programs, student affairs and public relations.

UMF has had to cut financial aid by about $27,000, said a spokesman.

Because of the most recent cut, state technical colleges will lose another $400,000. No layoffs or tuition hikes are planned, according to spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick, but some job vacancies will be held open and maintenance projects deferred.

This year’s 16.5 percent enrollment increase “has helped us a lot,” she said.