More than three weeks into the new fiscal year, administrators at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville contend they are unable to produce official budgets for the university’s deficit-troubled Advancement Division for the current and recently ended fiscal years.
As of Tuesday, the division’s budget for fiscal 2014, which began July 1, had not been finalized, spokesman Steve Voorhies said. The university also had not finalized actual revenue and expenditures for fiscal 2013, which ended June 30.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act request July 12 that sought budget details for the two years among records related to an organizational restructuring of the division that was announced July 11.
The university supplied draft versions of the fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 budgets on July 16. In written responses to the FOI request, Voorhies said both will “soon” be finalized.
The university also released some salary information related to the Advancement Division restructuring and its promotion of 11 employees, and Vice Chancellor for Advancement Chris Wyrick explained some examples of budget-cutting measures in a July 15 interview. But without finalized details, it is not yet clear what impact the changes will have on the division’s budget.
UA officials said the restructuring was meant to address inefficiencies, not to cut the budget, and Wyrick said he didn’t trim any positions.
Since acknowledging in December 2012 that overspending in the Advancement Division led to the multimillion dollar deficit, Fayetteville campus administrators have said major revisions to the fiscal 2013 budget were expected to reduce the division’s red ink.
Records showed university administrators estimated the fiscal 2012 deficit at roughly $3.37 million, and Chancellor G. David Gearhart said earlier this year that he expected the deficit to be less for fiscal 2013. A “gift tax” on donations was considered to increase the division’s revenue but was ruled out.
The university awaits results of an audit of the Advancement Division’s finances, which is being performed by the state’s Division of Legislative Audit and UA System internal auditors.Once Gearhart requested the audit Feb. 5, campus officials frequently cited it in declining to answer questions or provide documents about progress in reducing the deficit.
UA’s treasurer concluded in a report that the overspending happened because the division added employees without revenue in the budget to support them.
The deficit led to Gearhart’s decision to reassign the previous Advancement Division vice chancellor, Brad Choate, saying he wouldn’t renew Choate’s appointment when it expired June 30. But Choate continued his duties relating to planning a fund-raising campaign and courting donors, and retained his title and $348,175 salary.
Choate’s budget director, Joy Sharp, also was allowed to work through the end of her appointment June 30, but she was demoted, reassigned and her salary cut.
The chancellor in February announced Choate’s successor, Wyrick, effective July 1. Wyrick began work April 1 with a $279,000 salary, well below Choate’s.
Wyrick’s salary was raised July 1 by $8,000 to $287,000, an increase of nearly 2.9 percent. A small portion of his salary, $5,622, will be paid from private funds, Voorhies said.
Since the campus’s announcement of Wyrick’s reorganization, the university has released salaries of 10 of the 11 people promoted. Without finalized fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 budgets, it’s not yet clear whether the division’s personnel costs decreased.
In the Advancement Division’s Office of University Development, Mark Power was promoted to the new associate vice chancellor for University Development. Records show he started July 1 with a $194,000 salary. Power’s predecessor, Bruce Pontious, earns $214,026, Voorhies said.
There will be a few weeks when Power and Pontious are both working under the same title, as Pontious is scheduled to retire in September, Voorhies said.
In the division’s central office of the vice chancellor, Denise Reynolds began July 1 earning $76,549 as its new assistant vice chancellor for finance and human resources operations. Wyrick said in the July 15 interview that Reynolds is the chief financial officer and director of human resources, essentially replacing Sharp.
Sharp’s salary was $91,086 before her pay was cut in September 2012.
Wyrick also promoted Eunice Alberson to report to Reynolds as human resources manager for the vice chancellor’s office. He said Sharp had been doing the work of two people when she was handling finances and personnel matters for the central office. Alberson earns $37,500 effective July 1.
A salary for the person promoted to become Reynolds’ assistant, Stephanie Mc-Guire, has not been finalized, Voorhies said.
Other more recently released salaries of those promoted are:
Katy Nelson-Ginder, assistant vice chancellor of development for external relations, effective July 1, $165,000.
Brenda Brugger, assistant vice chancellor of development for internal operations, effective July 1, $120,000.
Melissa Banks, executive director of Donor Relations and Special Events, $90,000, effective July 1.
Greg Lewis, director of corporate and foundation relations in university development, $85,000, effective Aug. 1.
Ashlie Hilbun, director of development for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, $75,000, effective July 1.
Ede Hogue, associate director of Donor Relations and Special Events, $55,293, effective Aug. 1.
Robin Adams, manager of Donor Relations and Special Events, $39,136, effective July 1.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/24/2013