State lawmakers approved sweeping cuts to Utah’s budget Friday in a special legislative session called by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to plug a $350 million budget shortfall.
Nearly every state agency will face shrinking funding over the next year, including higher education, whose budget was cut by 4 percent, which amounts to $33.9 million. The U, which receives nearly one-third of the state’s $1.2 billion higher education funding, will face a $10.5 million drop in ongoing state funds during the 2009 fiscal year.
Originally, legislators had planned to cut higher education by as much as 8 percent, or $65 million, but persistent lobbying from Utah System of Higher Education Commissioner William Sederburg and a late-night meeting between Huntsman and legislative leaders Sept. 25 cut the number in half.
“We’re pleased with the turnaround,” Sederburg said. “It sounds kind of strange to feel good about a 4 percent cut, but it’s consistent with what we thought would happen. We’re not going to raise anyone’s tuition, though. It’s not even on the table.”
Sen. Greg Bell, R-Davis, who co-chairs the higher education appropriations subcommittee, said the proposed 8 percent cut sent a “tectonic shock” through appropriations meetings, where Sederburg and a team of accountants made the case to mitigate higher education cuts.
“The governor was able to find other sources and move some money around,” Bell said.
During the two-day session, legislators managed to plug a $354 million hole in the budget without tapping into a $400 million rainy day fund or the $100 million public schools emergency fund. Senate President John Valentine, R-Utah, praised lawmakers for leaving the state’s savings untouched, but didn’t rule out the possibility of tapping into the rainy day fund when the Legislature convenes in January to lay out the budget for the following year.
“We don’t know what is going to happen in the future,” Valentine said. “We can only guess that what we’ve done will be enough. It will be a challenge, but it’s a challenge we’re trying to prepare for.”
Legislators also passed a bill Sept. 26 giving university administrators the freedom to adjust their institution’s budgets as they see fit. U President Michael Young was not available for comment, but said in an earlier interview with The Chronicle that sweeping budget cuts would be misguided, and that legislators should look at the areas that aren’t performing well to make financial adjustments.
U Vice President of Government Relations Kim Wirthlin said it’s too early to determine where administrators will make cuts to the U’s budget, but said Young is dedicated to keeping research funding constant.