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By Michele Savage
Marketing Director
As the nation is haunted by a slowing economy, the University of Maine is joining in the struggle, facing budget cuts.
State funding for the University of Maine System has been cut by $4.6 million for next year by Governor Angus King. As a result of the decision, the University of Maine will take a $1.3 million budget cut. The problems this will cause for the UMaine campus are not entirely known yet.
UMaine students could feel the pinch over the next year as attempts are made to fill a deficit of anywhere from $3.5 million to $9 million.
“The state legislature and the University of Maine System have tried to balance tuition increases with budget allocation, but tuition rates aren’t set for next year. Students could be affected in this way,” Anderson said.
Due to the financial situation, the University of Maine has put into place a hiring moratorium, which means new hires at UMaine will be carefully screened and the vice president of the area the person is being hired for and President Peter S. Hoff will make the final decision. A moratorium has not been instituted since the early 1990s.
“We want people to understand that there is a problem,” Anderson said. “We don’t want to hire people now [who] we might have to lay off six months from now.”
Once UMaine has a clearer picture of what the financial situation will be, the hiring moratorium could be lifted.
Employees who are already on the payroll are also being left in a state of limbo because of budget cuts.
“The problem for the University of Maine is what we don’t know,” Mark Anderson, interim director of Financial Affairs, said. “Union agreements with employees will be an issue.”
All university employees are a part of a union, yet none of the collective bargaining agreements have been settled as of now. When these agreements are settled, giving union workers solid contracts, it could mean higher health care premiums for employees, who currently pay 10 percent of their health care premium. The question to be settled before contracts are signed is whether employees or the university will pay the higher premiums.
“The UM system has been in a three-year contract with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield and is awaiting bids for a new contract,” Anderson said. “Regardless of who wins the contract, health care premiums will go up.”
Bangor Daily News