Budget Update February 26, 2009

There are many rumors floating around about furloughs and Academic Support Accounts (ASAs).  Here is what we know.

Furloughs comprise one budget-saving strategy in which faculty and/or staff take off a certain number of unpaid days in the course of a year.  You may have seen in the news media that the Governor's Office is proposing furloughs for many state employees.  For example, the Governor's Office and Department of Administrative Services (DAS) are discussing with SEIU  classified employee furloughs for both this biennium and next.  The Governor has already announced a sliding scale of 1 to 4 furlough days between now and June 30 for many unclassified state employees in addition to a pay cut.  It is not yet known how these state discussions will affect OUS unclassified and classified employees.  My feeling is that furloughs are better than eliminating positions and laying people off, but they involve many legal complications.  

We have no plan, nor have we ever discussed, recapturing Academic Support Accounts (ASAs).  There is the possibility, if the cuts get much deeper, that we may need to freeze them at some point (e.g., you can only spend at most X% before October).  When a thaw is warranted, the funds would still be there.  We simply cannot have a run on the bank when our reserves are being confiscated by the state.

All of this is changing by the hour.  We will let you know if we hear significant changes.  I appreciate the opportunity to respond to questions such as these.  Please feel free to forward them to provost@uoregon.edu.

Regards, Jim