UNMC will be impacted by impending budget reductions, but the campus will make the cuts without sacrificing the quality of its programs or abandoning its strategic priorities, Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said today.
“We will continue our strong efforts to make UNMC a world-class academic health science center. However, we recognize that we must participate in helping the state address its revenue shortfall,” Dr. Maurer said. “People must realize, though, that these cuts will have a negative effect on areas such as research, education and community outreach.”
All four campuses and the central administration of the University of Nebraska system will see budget reductions. The amount of those reductions will be finalized after the NU Board of Regents approves the 2002-2003 budget at its April meeting. Estimates show that UNMC’s budget will be reduced by nearly $2.2 million in the 2002-2003 fiscal year, if faculty and staff receive an average raise of 4 percent. That salary pool is less than the 6.2 percent approved by the legislature for UNMC faculty and the 5 percent salary pool approved for the staff.
University-wide and campus-wide reallocations are two other key factors determining UNMC’s proposed budget reduction of $2.2 million. Those reallocations will strengthen priority programs and cover unanticipated costs in areas such as property insurance premiums, which increased in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist events.
“The Chancellor’s Council and I believe this is the best option given our current priorities and the state’s economic climate,” Dr. Maurer said.
John Reinhardt, D.D.S., dean of the UNMC College of Dentistry, said that the reductions could result in fewer faculty positions, which could lead eventually to fewer graduates. UNMC’s research momentum in dentistry also may be curtailed, Dr. Reinhardt said. That’s a sentiment that is shared campus-wide, Dr. Maurer said.
Reductions also will impair UNMC’s ability to disseminate important information statewide to patients, schools, rural training sites, health-care providers, alumni and the general public, Dr. Maurer said. Clinic visits by UNMC specialists to rural communities also will be reduced.
“This will slow the sharing of the best practices, including advances in technology, and will weaken our capacity to respond to requests for information,” Dr. Maurer said.
If UNMC reduces its budget by 2 percent, Dr. Maurer said, a number of positions will be cut, including roughly 16 faculty positions and 14 staff positions.
“We will try to accomplish this through attrition, but it may result in the removal of some employees. We cannot say that this won’t happen,” Dr. Maurer said.
The 2 percent reductions would be distributed proportionally across campus units and divisions, he said. Leaders in those areas will make the final decisions on how to implement their budget cuts, based on academic priorities.