The budget director who was one of two employees blamed for a multimillion budget deficit at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville won’t be able to keep her job after the fiscal year ends June 30, a spokesman said Friday.
Last fall, an internal financial review by the university’s treasurer found that the two employees, Vice Chancellor Brad Choate and budget director Joy Sharp, didn’t monitor income and spending adequately and didn’t follow university policies, resulting in the Advancement Division overspending its roughly $10 million budget by more than $3 million in the previous fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2012.
Choate, the division’s top employee, and Sharp were fired but were allowed to finish out their appointments through June 30, UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart saidin early December when the deficit became public knowledge.
Choate was allowed to keep his $348,175 salary but was stripped of his administrative duties, including budget oversight, in early November.
Sharp initially was relieved of budget oversight and reassigned to other duties within the Advancement Division. Her salary was cut from $91,086 to $68,314 and she was transferred fromAdvancement to a job in the university’s Human Resources office, working as a human resources specialist on nonbudgetary tasks such as coordinating the Razor-Temp program, which entails helping campus offices find temporary labor.
But in a memorandum from Gearhart to Sharp dated Nov. 16, 2012, that was obtained in February under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, it was clear thatSharp stood a chance of not losing her job after all.
“After June 30, 2013, your continued employment with the University of Arkansas will be determined by the needs of [Human Resources] and your satisfactory work performance,” the memo said. “A new salary commensurate with the position will be offered at that timeshould [Human Resources] desire your continued service.”
Contacted last week just as the UA board of trustees was approving the campus’s budget for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1, Fayetteville campus chief spokesman John Diamond said the university had made its decision.
“There are no plans to continue Joy Sharp’s university employment beyond June 30,” Diamond wrotein an e-mail Friday. “She is aware of that.”
Diamond answered questions about Choate’s remaining days with the university as well.
“Brad Choate is still employed and we expect him to continue until his employment agreement ends on June 30,” he said. “The university does not intend to keep him on as a consultant - that has not been a consideration.”
On Feb. 5, Gearhart askedthat an audit be performed by the state Legislative Audit Division and the UA System’s internal audit section.
The state auditors had estimated audit completion for late May.
On Friday, Legislative Audit’s Roger Norman provided an update.
“Field work is still in progress,” Norman, its director, wrote in an e-mail. “I do not have an estimated date of completion, but the report will not be ready in May.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 05/26/2013