CONWAY -- The University of Central Arkansas is cutting spending for the rest of this fiscal year because of a projected reduction in state funding.
UCA began "pulling back on maintenance and capital projects in the fall," said Diane Newton, vice president for finance and administration.
She said the university has not enacted a spending freeze. Instead, "We have asked departments to reduce spending for the remainder of the fiscal year unless it is truly necessary," she said. "Actual budgets have not been permanently cut."
While the state's funding formula for higher education is based, in part, on full-time equivalent enrollment, the roughly "$400,000 decrease is in state funds not connected with enrollment," Newton said in an email.
The other state funds "include [General Improvement Funds] ... which fluctuate depending on funds available to the legislature. The formula based funding is identical," Newton said.
No cost-of-living salary increases are scheduled for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and increases given to employees at the start of the year will not be affected, Newton said.
"There may be adjustments to some salaries for various reasons, but no general increase" is scheduled, she added.
Job openings are being evaluated by each division.
"There are some positions that will not be refilled until July," she said.
Some maintenance projects also are being delayed until then. "Some travel has been curtailed, [and] some equipment purchases delayed," Newton said.
The projected reduction in state appropriations is $410,912.
In fiscal 2016, state appropriations totaled $58,475,054, Newton said. The fiscal 2017 appropriations are projected to be $58,064,142, she said.
In a Jan. 4 email to several UCA administrators, Newton indicated the amounts by which each area should reduce spending. Academic affairs was the hardest-hit, at $550,000.
It was unclear late Friday whether auxiliaries, including athletics, would have to make cuts in spending, or how much they would have to cut if they did. In addition to academics, other areas Newton listed for cuts were:
• Finance and administration: $147,204.
• Student services and institutional diversity: $28,431.
• UCA Police Department, marketing and creative services, outreach and community engagement, and human resources: $76,068.
• Institutional advancement: $14,470.
• Information technology: $42,890.
• President's office: $13,519.
That email indicated the university was working with auxiliaries separately.
Newton said auxiliaries include housing, food service, athletics, the campus bookstore, the student health center, the HPER Center, the student center, the campus radio station and the school's post office. HPER is a recreation center; its name stands for Health Physical Education Recreation.
Asked how much spending the auxiliaries, including athletics, would have to cut, if any, Newton replied, "We are still working with athletics and other auxiliaries on possible cost savings."
On Jan. 13, Newton sent another email that mentioned things to consider in trying to cut spending. In addition to items already mentioned, she suggested looking "at reducing hours for student labor and extra help."
"There is no total set amount" that UCA aims to cut in spending, Newton said in the email interview.
"We continue to monitor expenses campus wide," she added.
"The requests to the division heads was a [proportional] allocation for cost saving measures."
News of the spending cuts first appeared in The Echo, UCA's student newspaper, just as Houston Davis was settling into his new job as the school's 11th president.
Davis will make $347,330 a year in addition to other benefits. His predecessor, Tom Courtway, made $242,400.
Davis' salary will include $40,000 in private funds from the nonprofit UCA Foundation, a fundraising arm of the university. Davis has a five-year contract, and his salary and benefits could change with each year.
The contract also provides Davis with either a mutually agreeable vehicle or a $750 monthly vehicle allowance.
A Section on 02/06/2017