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E-mail message to the
Campus
November 18, 2004
REMARKS
AND ESSAYS:
State budget process 2005-07
Chancellor Bruce Shepard shared the
following e-mail message with the UW-Green Bay campus
Colleagues:
With the news media starting to report on the early stages of the 2005-07
state budget process, it’s a good time for me to share with you
what I’m hearing about the budget from President Reilly, the Regents
and other System leaders. My intention is to keep you as fully informed
as possible based on the information we have this early in the process.
Let me start by offering my usual caveat: In both good and bad times,
things are rarely as good or as bad as they may seem. We have a long way
to go in this budget process. We may well be into next summer before the
governor and Legislature take final action on the budget. At this point,
we’re not even sure what the state’s revenue picture will
look like. So much can and will change between now and final passage of
the next two-year budget.
This is what we do know. State agencies – including the UW System
– have responded to Gov. Doyle’s request for plans to reduce
appropriations for administrative operations by 10 percent. For the UW
System, such a cut could potentially result in a funding reduction of
about $14.6 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year. That reduction has not
been allocated among campuses; were usual practices followed, our "share"
would be around $400,000.
I want to stress that this was only an exercise – an exercise that
should not cause undue alarm -- and the Governor continues to express
his very strong support for the UW. The UW System has responded to the
10% budget reduction request at a very high level of generality (e.g.,
such a cut would mean a reduction in 1,600 students system wide), and
individual campuses have not been asked to initiate the painful budgetary
processes necessary to add specificity to what, at this point, remains
an exercise.
Please also keep in mind that the UW System’s 2005-07 budget request,
as approved by the Board of Regents, seeks reinvestment by the state in
higher education. Reinvesting in the System would enable us to maintain
access and quality while also reaching out to the communities we exist
to serve.
We will have a better idea of where we stand -- cuts or reinvestments
-- when the Governor releases his budget in January.
Here at UW-Green Bay, we -- helped by the many strong supporters of UWGB
throughout are region -- are working with our legislative delegation to
make sure they understand the University’s importance to the region’s
economy and quality of life. We also point out that the UW System took
the largest base budget cut in its history in the 2003-05 budget. This
cut was the exclamation point on a decade of declining state support for
the System. Across campus, we will work through the Strategic Budgeting
Committee to make sure all voices are heard as we get down to the business
of establishing budget priorities and preparing our detailed budget plans
whatever the budget picture turns out to be.
As I mentioned previously, I intend to keep you as informed as I can about
budget developments. If you have questions about budget issues, please
call me at 2207 or e-mail me at shepardb@uwgb.edu. I may not have all
the answers, but I promise to share with you what I know.
I’d like to close by thanking you for your hard work and dedication
and by asking for your patience as we once again go through a budget process
marked by uncertainty. Working together, we will make sure UW-Green Bay
remains one of our region’s most vibrant institutions.
Bruce
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Office of the Chancellor
David A. Cofrin Library, Suite 810
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311-7001
Phone: 920-465-2207
Comments to:
Chancellor's Web Manager
Revised
7/31/06
E-mail: shepardb@uwgb.edu
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