The University of Maine System may have to cut more than $15 million from its budget over the next two years, Chancellor Richard Pattenaude announced in an e-mail sent last Monday evening to university employees.
Governor John Baldacci asked UMS to cut $7,470,065 from its budget for fiscal year 2010 and $7,531,087 for fiscal year 2011. The proposed cuts aim to curb a state budget shortfall projected to reach $200 million over the next two years.
"In anticipation of this shortfall, the state has provided the University of Maine System and other recipients of state funds with ‘target’ reduction numbers," Pattenaude said in the e-mail.
The total amount is "not final, and we will work to mitigate the size of the reduction if possible," he added.
Pattenaude said he plans to work with the university presidents to develop an "impact statement" outlining the effects of these cuts on the universities. The statement will be presented to the State Budget Office by Oct. 28, he said
The news comes during a tumultuous period for the university system. In September, Pattenaude released a restructuring plan to offset a projected four-year budget shortfall of $42.8 million. The UMS Board of Trustees is planning to present the implementation of this plan on Nov. 16.
The $15 million in proposed cuts would be added to the ongoing deficit.
How the cuts would be distributed among UMS’s seven colleges is not yet clear, said Peggy Markson, communications coordinator for UMS.
"This is not a total surprise," said Bob Caswell executive director of public affairs. "We knew there was a possibility of something like this being proposed," based on the Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission’s April report, which showed Maine tax revenues were continuing to decline.
USM currently has no plans for how to deal with the proposed recisions. Last spring, the University cut more than $4 million from its budget to offset diminished state funding. This time, it is unclear where the cuts could come from.
"We need to start planning, but there are no definite plans or decisions," Caswell said. "It’s especially difficult to find money once you’re into the fiscal year. The deeper you go into a fiscal year, the more difficult cuts like this become. You have less and less flexibility."