The General Assembly soon will consider a budget amendment proposed by former Gov. Tim Kaine that would shift almost $19 million from public universities to the state general fund. This change - which the House and Senate will release to the Assembly for discussion Feb. 21 - would cut the amount of money the University receives from the state by $3.8 million, said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget.
"For many years, we have benefited from getting the interest on balances that are deposited in the state treasury," Sheehy said. "The plan now is to keep that interest. If they take that money away, we're going to pass [the cost] on to students."
Three areas of the University's funding would be hit hardest by this amendment, Sheehy said. The first is basic working capital, or "the cash needed to carry operations over the summer months," she said. Cuts would affect ongoing construction projects, as well, because the University usually finances 100 percent of the costs, she said. Lastly, the amendment would cut funds for general maintenance and repairs on Grounds, she said.
The University's finance committees have met with legislators to discuss the proposal.
"They understand and don't like what the governor did," Sheehy said. "We hope they'll take action to fix it."
The proposed cuts were not surprising, said Melody Bianchetto, assistant vice president for budget and financial planning.
"The revenues available to the state are decreasing and there's no other way to go about finding revenues," Bianchetto said. "Their alternative is to increase taxes and that's not very popular."\nThe University also will receive stimulus money that will alleviate these cuts until fiscal year 2012, but officials have yet to learn the amount of such funds. "That's the big question mark," Bianchetto said.
Overall, cuts are nothing new to the Budget Office, which has been coping with more frequent cuts since 2007, Bianchetto said.
"We've been freezing positions, watching our spending, evaluating faculty positions and figuring out where we can tighten the belt without impacting students," she said.
-Sofia Economopolous contributed to this article.
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