Budget update: Jan. 29, 2020
January 29, 2020
— by Dan White, chancellor
In December, I issued guidance to vice chancellors to plan for a 15% reduction in their FY21 general
fund budgets. There have been a number of questions since the Board’s budget was passed regarding
whether this 15% guidance includes or does not include the reallocation needed for
compensation or if that would be in addition to the 15% targets. At this time, the
15% planning is inclusive of compensation and market adjustments and includes strategic
initiatives, assuming the compensation and strategic initiative reallocations remain.
Following the recent board meeting there was some indication that the reallocations
for strategic initiatives may be reconsidered.
In recent budget columns, I’ve mentioned the need to expand the use of shared services.
From my perspective, this strategy is not designed to eliminate positions, but rather
to relieve pressure on very thinly staffed offices. A shared services model can bridge
the gap to cover business operations in areas that have been spread thin over the
last few years. Staff reductions university wide have left departments in tenuous
situations, where there is often no back up. Should someone leave their position or
need to take leave, and that one person is juggling a number of business operation
functions there is real risk to business continuity. The intention of UAF’s shared
services strategy is to provide much needed business services to all departments.
This will also increase shared best practices, increased collaboration between units,
and an increased wellness.
My request for proposals for shared service centers was originally February 14. That
has been extended to February 28 due to staff demands for the expedited administrative
review reports. Please submit proposals directly to Samara Taber, Executive Officer
at setaber@alaska.edu or to me.
We continue to make headway in reducing our footprint and reducing land costs and
leases, while ensuring we are meeting our land grant mission. The sale of the Administrative
Services Center (ASC) is in the final stages, for a total sale of over $1M. We are
working on public noticing for the sale or lease of the Orca and Rae buildings in
Seward, as well as an adjacent parking lot. This does not obligate UAF to sell these
properties, but does allow us to evaluate our options.
Using guidance from our strategic plan to grow enrollment, modernize the student experience,
and reduce money spent on deferred maintenance, I am looking into how we build a public
private partnership (P3) to replace our outdated dorms that are expensive to operate
and laden with deferred maintenance with more efficient and more modern residence
halls. This is part of a larger plan to revamp our student experience to drive costs
down and enrollment up. Public private partnerships around residence halls, food service,
parking, and recreation have been used across the country at universities like ours
that needed to eliminate expensive outdated facilities and replace them with higher
performing and more efficient buildings. P3s have been used in similar budget situations
as ours where new capital was not available from the state to make this transition.
This effort is part of our masterplan that will be up for the board’s consideration in February. More to come as we learn
more about the P3 opportunities.
Thank you to all those who were able to join the strategic planning forum last week
and for all you do for this great university.
Thank you for choosing UAF.