The University of Georgia might weather state budget cuts without laying off any workers, President Michael Adams told a packed auditorium at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education on Friday.
"Right now, none are planned," Dr. Adams told hundreds of UGA workers and a few students in the first of two public forums he has scheduled to talk about the university's budget woes.
Administrators are reducing the university's work force of about 10,000 by not filling vacant positions, he said.
However, he would not rule out layoffs later this year.
"I can't stand here and tell you there won't be some pain for all of us to get through this," Dr. Adams said.
Like other public colleges and universities in Georgia, the university has been ordered to trim 6 percent from the state-funded portion of its budget -- about $30 million in fiscal year 2009, which began July 1. The state faces a budget shortfall this year estimated at $1.6 billion, he said.
UGA might have to dig even deeper, Dr. Adams said. An 8 percent budget cut would be nearly $40 million, he said.
The university gets about 36 percent of its revenue from the state -- about $496 million. The rest comes from tuition, research grants and fees for services.
Dr. Adams gave examples of what UGA is doing to trim its budget: postponing more than $1 million in building and grounds repairs or improvements; cutting library subscriptions by 21 percent to save $560,000; saving $500,000 by cutting back on start-up equipment for newly hired scientists; and hiring fewer tenure-track faculty to replace professors who retire or take a job elsewhere.
Dr. Adams said he does not know whether Gov. Sonny Perdue and the state Legislature will renege on a 2 percent salary increase promised to state workers beginning in January.
One faculty member asked why administrators are refusing to approve faculty trips to professional conferences, even when a professor plans to use his or her own money to pay for the trip.
"I think we're all under more scrutiny," Dr. Adams said, citing public interest in state workers' travel expenses.
"I think what we do in this climate gets looked at, and perceptions matter," he said after the forum.
Dr. Adams recently canceled his trip to a conference in Strasbourg, France, even though it would have increased UGA's prestige, he said.
A tuition increase could also help offset the cuts, he said.
"We're close to the bottom (in tuition rates charged by state flagship universities in the Southeast). I'd like to be near the middle," he told one student questioner. "It's in your best interest that we not be so low that we can't pay our faculty well. I think you will see in your time here some increase in tuition and fees."
WILL SPORTS HELP?
The University of Georgia might get some help from an unexpected source as it struggles to absorb a $30 million budget cut: the University of Georgia Athletic Association.
The association is awash in money and will be getting even more next year, when two fat television contracts go into effect.
ESPN and CBS will pay the Southeastern Conference about $205 million a year to broadcast football, basketball and other college sports. Based on a formula that divides SEC income into 13 parts -- one for each school and one for the SEC -- UGA stands to get almost $16 million a year.
The presidents of the 12 SEC universities plan to talk about slicing off a portion of the TV money for academics, UGA President Michael Adams said.
-- Morris News Service
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