BANGOR — The University of Maine System faces a $16 million operating loss for the $519 million budget year that ended in June, largely because of $11 million in new retirement and severance costs, the system’s top financial officer told the board of trustees Monday.
Until the end of the school year, system officials didn’t know how many employees would retire and take advantage of special retirement incentives, said Rebecca Wyke, the vice chancellor for finance and administration. The system also saw a year-end $3.5 million loss in one of its investment funds.
The system will balance the budget by taking additional funds from a budget stabilization fund, some campus reserves and drawing down the system’s insurance benefit pool. The budget will be finalized later this year after an audit, Wyke said.
The budget already included using $11.4 million in emergency funds and a cut of 157 positions.
Wyke noted that the $518 million budget for the upcoming year, approved in May, is balanced with $7.2 million in emergency reserve funds.
Also Monday, Chancellor James Page briefed the trustees on the progress of several projects, including an effort to move the system to a single academic accreditation. System officials met with the accrediting agency in June.
“I’m hoping we will hear from them fairly soon on this matter,” Page said. While some major university systems, such as the 24-campus Penn State University system, have a single accreditation, most university systems – including the UMaine System currently – have individual accreditations for each campus.
Page said he wants single accreditation as part of a larger effort to have the seven campuses seen as a unified whole. It would also conform to system efforts to unify and consolidate support functions such as IT, finance and human relations, and streamline academic offerings systemwide.
Also Monday, Danielle Conway, the new dean of the University of Maine School of Law, outlined several new projects she is launching at the school.
One is an outreach program to high school and undergraduate students throughout the state; another targets foreign students for a special one-year program; and another “enrollment to employment” program focuses on matching law school students with mentors and opportunities. Currently, the law school has an 85 percent placement rate within nine months of graduation, Conway said.
“We have to get out to our feeder schools and explain just how law school works for the community,” she said. Law schools nationwide are still recovering from the drop in enrollment since the recession. The market is “slightly improving,” she said.
After meeting in executive session, the trustees signed off on tentative contract agreements with four systemwide unions, voting to allow Page to execute the contracts once the unions ratify the agreements, according to system spokesman Dan Demeritt. Details on the agreements will not be available until union representatives and Page sign the contracts.
The unions are the University of Maine Professional Staff Association, representing professional employees; the Associated C.O.L.T. Staff of the Universities of Maine, representing clerical, office, laboratory and technical employees; the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine, representing the full-time faculty; and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #100, representing police unit employees. The faculty and staff unions are affiliates of the Maine Education Association and the National Education Association.
Noel K. Gallagher can be contacted at 791-6387 or at:
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