ORONO – Every year, the University of Maine Department of Athletics and Recreation contends with limited financial resources and a shrinking budget.

This year, the situation has been exacerbated as the department has been asked to participate in a university proposal to make $5 million in reductions for fiscal year 2003. The money is needed to cover increases in wages and health insurance premiums.

Under the budget strategy plan announced Monday, the athletic department has proposed reductions of nearly $203,000 for next year. That represents slightly more than four percent of the university’s overall reductions.

While university officials say the move is not technically a budget cut, it has the same practical impact. The good news is, the athletic department has found $202,873 without cutting coaching staff or scholarships, according to athletics director Sue Tyler.

“We haven’t looked at it [cutting scholarships],” Tyler said. “We’re trying not to influence any of the sports as much as possible.

“Most of the adjustments we’ve made at the present time are in administrative areas and picking up more work study students and trying to do without.”

The athletic department’s main reductions will come in leaving positions vacant.

The department since last summer has been without an assistant athletic director for marketing and corporate relations after the departure of Scott Lowenberg. His duties have been divvied up among some other athletic department staff members and the position will not be filled.

“We were hoping to [fill his position], but what we’re going to do is try to reconfigure that area and save some money,” Tyler said.

The subsequent departure of Kevin McPhee, the manager of athletic events and summer camps, has meant a reshuffling of responsibilities rather than a replacement. Tyler said men’s basketball assistant coach Randy Lee will handle summer camps and do some event management to help fill the void.

“We’re looking at everything to see where we can economize and what we can do without,” Tyler said. “We don’t want to affect the student-athletes’ experience.”

UMaine is presently operating under a hiring moratorium which, as opposed to a hiring freeze, allows the athletic department to fill key positions as warranted. Among the openings that have not been filled are a handful of assistant coaching positions, including two in football, one in field hockey, and another in women’s ice hockey.

“We’re going to keep them vacant this [fiscal] year for the most part, but for recruiting purposes and other reasons we’ve got to get those positions filled,” Tyler said. “We have not resolved the order that we’re going to do that.”

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s football team is only weeks away from its spring season, which means he’ll be two coaches short during a key preparation phase.

“We lost two coaches at the turn of the new year and have not been able to replace them and, to my knowledge, have not been given a time when we can replace them,” Cosgrove said. “We have to press on, knowing that we’re shorthanded in that regard.”

The university also is proposing a four percent tuition increase for 2002-2003 that will raise revenues by an estimated $1.6 million. However, higher tuition hurts UMaine’s athletic scholarship budgets, which do not increase, because it costs more money to bring in student-athletes.

Tyler explained UMaine likely will review its ticket pricing for hockey, especially now that the University of New Hampshire is pushing its ticket price to $18. The Bears average more than 5,000 fans per home game at Alfond Arena, which means even a $1 ticket increase means $5,000 more per game in gate receipts.

Looking beyond the aforementioned reductions, Tyler lauded UMaine’s coaches, who have been helpful in cutting costs for the proposed 2003 athletic budget.

“The coaches have been really great,” Tyler said. “For the most part, they’ve tried to figure out ways they can economize in terms of equipment and how far they’re traveling. Most of the coaches have requested less money for next year.”

The bottom line is providing a quality experience the student-athletes without diminishing their chances for achieving success.

“We need to meet the budget demands that we have but keep our competitive level,” Tyler said.