Statement by University of Texas System Chancellor Mark Yudof on spending cuts
Jan. 24, 2003
The State's leadership has asked all agencies, including higher education, to take immediate action to identify ways to cut spending in our current operations.
These are extraordinary measures for extraordinary times, and the University of Texas System will do its part to identify savings that contribute to the solution to these economic challenges.
We will work closely with all 15 of our institutions to develop a system-wide plan by Feb. 6 that details what can be done by the UT System to contribute to the state's fiscal recovery.
Every effort will be made to continue delivering essential and vital education, research, and health care services to the State that will see us through these tough times.
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Q: How much would be cut from the U. T. System budget to meet a mandated
7 percent reduction?
A: A 7 percent reduction in annualized state appropriations of $1.49 billion
to our institutions for the current fiscal year would amount to an estimated
$104.3 million.
Q: What will the impact of the reductions be?
A: We have asked our campuses to submit detailed plans that meet the mandate of an overall reduction of 7 percent. Every effort will be made to identify the specific and appropriate actions that will be taken on each campus and System-wide.
Our instructions to presidents stress that reducing direct services is a
last option for consideration. It would be premature at this time to speculate
on specific actions or impacts until we have had the opportunity to discuss
and review their proposals and to incorporate them into a final plan for submission
to the Governor and to the Legislature.
Q: How much will each campus be affected by these cuts? Will
this be an evenly distributed, across-the-board reduction of 7 percent for
each campus?
A: We will submit a System-wide plan to meet the objective of a 7 percent
reduction in the total of state revenues allocated to our individual campuses.
Those reductions will be spread across all 15 campuses -- but may affect each
campus differently. This is a collective effort to achieve these savings,
not an individual one.
Q: Are you anticipating any other actions such as personnel layoffs,
pay cuts, hiring freezes, etc?
A: It is too early to tell what actions will be necessary. Our first step is to ask the campus presidents how they would meet a mandated reduction and assess the impact it would have on their campus. We will collect that information and fine-tune it until we have a plan that we can put in place and administer by Feb. 6.
There will be tough choices to make, at the campus and at the System level, but these are choices that are absolutely necessary to maintaining a fiscally sound state government. I intend to give our component campus presidents maximum flexibility in determining where reductions are to be made consistent with our obligations to the state and to the people of Texas.
My first priority is to maintain the academic and health care programs already in place and serving Texas students and patients at each of our institutions. Beyond that, we will look at every opportunity to achieve additional efficiencies in operations, cut expenditures, defer costs and many other options available to us.
This is the beginning of a very difficult process of assessment for us and
for the state, as we grapple with the impacts of the economy on the current
fiscal year and the upcoming biennium.
Q: What is the current budget for the UT System (Fiscal Year 2003)?
A: Total budget: $7.08 billion (22.1 percent of total is state General Revenue)
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