State revenue causes Purdue budget reevaluation
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/03/2009
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Tough economic times may cause the governor to re-assess state appropriations for Purdue.
At the President’s forum, President Córdova discussed possible state budget cutbacks. She said it is almost certain there would be a mid-year budget adjustment, which will require modifications on Purdue’s operating budget.
Any mid-year adjustments will have to come from Gov. Mitch Daniels. It is no longer a General Assembly decision, said State Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette.
“The Governor’s office has the power to go in and do that as he does with any other government entity,” Alting said.
It is quite uncommon for the Governor to step in and make changes to the higher education budget after it has been set by the General Assembly, Alting said.
“It would’ve been nice to have a crystal ball that would let us see that we would get this deep or that it would get this bad,” he said. “Obviously, we didn’t know this when we did the budget. We re-assessed it six times. With education, it’s not real common at all, but we are not living in common times.”
State revenues are down. For the first three months of the fiscal year, state tax collections were down by $254 million. Purdue’s 2010 system-wide budget was up 3.7 percent from last year, even though there was a 4.8 percent cut in state appropriations.
There hasn’t been any communication between Purdue and the state, said Chris Sigurdson, assistant vice president of external relations. A committee has been in place since July looking for ways Purdue can save money.
“It’s basically Purdue’s being prudent,” he said. “There are three ways we fund our academic mission. One, through tuition and fees. Two, through state appropriations and the third is to cut as many costs at Purdue as we can and still preserve the educational quality and the value of the degree.”
Co-chairs of the committee are Randy Woodson, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Al Diaz, treasurer and executive vice president for business and finance. They will be discussing the budget at the next President’s Forum on Nov. 20.