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Despite closing a system-wide budget gap, University of Maine campuses and the System Office have already used, and will continue to use, layoffs as a cost-saving measure.
As of Jan. 13, there have been at least 14 layoffs – including at least one part-time worker – at the seven campuses and the system office, according to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rebecca Wyke. In addition, there have been six layoffs at the University of Maine that happened after that date.
UMaine has laid off two employees thus far because of budget concerns – a worker in Printing Services and the education and outreach coordinator for the Collins Center for the Arts, according to Joe Carr, a spokesperson for UMaine.
“All the units have had to make difficult budget decisions,” said John Patches, executive director of CCA. For Patches, the decision was easier because “the incumbent had some changes in his future.”
Four of UMaine’s layoffs were of employees funded through “soft money,” such as grants or contracts, which was lost. Not included are the 10 workers who left Cutler Health Center.
In addition to the layoffs, 17 vacant positions system-wide have been eliminated.
“The numbers will rise,” according to Wyke, as universities prepare budgets for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, especially in light of further curtailment of the system’s budget by Gov. John Baldacci.
The layoffs have so far mostly been confined to classified staff or employees paid by the hour. Such employees require the shortest notification and fewest severance benefits. Faculty are unlikely to be laid off in the near future because doing so would not allow for immediate savings. Faculty require the longest notification period and the largest severance pay, so savings would not take effect in fiscal year 2009.
The school in the system with the most layoffs is the University of Southern Maine, which laid off eight workers before Jan. 13.
USM suffered financial problems even before this year’s budget curtailment and had to aggressively cut spending in order to avoid laying off as many as 70 employees. USM is also shutting down its Lifeline and Childcare programs, which will result in more layoffs.
The University of Maine at Augusta laid off four workers and reduced hours for three. The UMA workers were a mailroom assistant, custodian and assistant director of business systems at the Augusta campus and a custodian at the University College of Bangor, which UMA operates. According to Bob Stein, director of communications at UMA, decisions on layoffs are ultimately up to the president of the school, who acts on the recommendations of the budget manager and the president’s cabinet.
Bangor Daily News