FAIRBANKS -- Faced with a cut in state funding of up to $30 million that could lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs at campuses across the state, University of Alaska officials continue to review options pending final action by the Legislature and governor.
While perhaps 500 full- and part-time positions may be cut, the number of layoffs is expected to be much smaller because of retirements, attrition and the elimination of temporary and student jobs -- all of which make the employment picture a moving target.
But budget officials say some layoffs are inevitable. The Legislature approved a budget that calls for providing the university with about $340 million in state funding for the next fiscal year, down from $370 million this year. Funding for the university is included in the overall state budget, which remains unsettled because lawmakers didn't agree on how to tap billions in reserves to pay for state government in the next fiscal year.
The Legislature forwarded the unfunded budget to Gov. Bill Walker, who called a special session last week and introduced a revised budget, but legislators decided to take a two-week break, with the finance committees holding hearings on the updated Walker budget in Anchorage and Juneau.
The governor has until May 19 to accept or reject the budget approved by the Legislature, which only has funding to pay for the first few months of the fiscal year. The course of the special session, which is scheduled to resume May 12, will largely determine how Walker responds. The acceptance or rejection of $146 million in additional federal Medicaid funds is probably the major point of contention, though there are others.
The governor has proposed a number of budget changes, one of which is to trim a proposed $30 million UA budget cut to $23 million. A related element of the Walker budget is to approve the monetary terms of the collective bargaining agreements with UA unions, covering about 2,600 employees. The university would have to cover about half the increased cost, close to $4 million, so overall the changes would save about 30 jobs.
Walker asked legislators to honor all union contracts for state workers. Mirroring his approach to the rest of state government, he did not include money in his updated proposal to pay for scheduled across-the-board raises for nonunion workers at the university. The Legislature approved a bill, House Bill 176, to cancel across-the-board cost-of-living raises to nonunion workers. It has yet to be sent to the governor.
About 40 percent of the UA budget is funded by the state, with the rest supplied by research grants from the federal government, tuition, fees and other sources. The university has taken some steps to reduce funding, proposing cuts in some programs and calling for furloughs for about 165 top administrators to save about $600,000.
Pat Pitney, budget director for the Walker administration, said if the $30 million proposed cut from the Legislature is adopted, 41.9 percent would be taken from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, while 33.4 percent would come from the University of Alaska Anchorage and 7.2 percent would be from the University of Alaska Southeast. The statewide administration would take 17.5 percent of the cut. Pitney told the Senate Finance Committee Monday the cut from the statewide administration is proportionally larger to "minimize the impact on campuses and academic programs."
The actual job loss figures remain uncertain because it's not clear what the final state funding will be and how the campuses will deal with fixed costs and other issues. UAA Chancellor Tom Case said UAA has to cut $19.5 million to deal with shortfalls for this fiscal year and for the one that begins in July.
"Over the next few weeks, UAA will announce layoffs, reduced work assignments, position reductions and program eliminations that will affect approximately 200 positions, some of which are already vacant," Case wrote April 24.
At UAF, similar numbers are under discussion, though UAF went though a round of personnel cuts a year ago to deal with this fiscal year. UAF cut 160 positions last year, 55 of which were full-time regular positions. Sixteen of the 55 cuts led to layoffs and 7 of those people moved to other jobs, UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers said.