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The University of Maine System Board of Trustees voted to cut the system’s central budget by $2.7 million on Monday, November 6. The cuts will effect both budgeted and anticipated expenses.
Terry MacTaggart, chancellor of the board, circulated an e-mail to UMS employees detailing the budget changes. The e-mail notes that these changes come in on top of $500,000 worth of savings from the 2007 fiscal year.
The majority of the cuts will come from within the UMS senior administrative function areas, and will include the elimination of both full- and part-time jobs.
These administrative areas were slashed by about 11 percent, amounting to approximately $313,000 in savings.
“Like virtually all state-supported entities, the University of Maine System has been struggling to maintain affordable, high-quality programs and services in a time of growing demands and declining resources,” MacTaggart said in the statement. The e-mail notes that the cuts included some “tough decisions.”
Students are unlikely to see an increase in their tuition as a result of these budget changes. The cuts, according to the e-mail, are intended to “protect quality and affordability” for the university system. Budget cuts of this nature help to keep costs down, so as to eliminate the need for rising tuition.
The budget changes contain a combination of outright cuts and reductions to previous spending plans, and affect both the 2007 and the 2008 fiscal years. Modest cuts were also made to human resources, information technologies, and procurement services.
Major cuts to these central areas were avoided, because of the fear that they would contribute to higher costs for individual universities.
The Board of Trustees for the UMaine System supervises the maintenance and overall operation of the several campuses of the UMaine System. Members are appointed by the Governor for staggered five-year terms.
