On Friday, the University of Nebraska will begin reimbursing employees for mileage using their personal vehicles for university travel at a rate of 25 cents per mile, rather than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) standard rate of 53.5 cents per mile.
The new, decreased rate for personal vehicle use matches the average cost for the university to rent a vehicle utilizing private rental or pool vehicles. The Nebraska Department of Administrative Services (DAS) confirmed in a June 27 letter that the proposed mileage reimbursement rate conforms with applicable statutes and state accounting policies.
This reimbursement rate decrease will save the university as much as $550,000 per year, and is one of the recommendations of the Budget Response Teams convened by President Hank Bounds and the chancellors to identify reductions in operational costs. The university recently announced a range of changes that will result from the work of the Budget Response Teams, including restructuring in facilities, energy, procurement, human resources and information technology, along with policy and process changes.
More changes will be announced soon as Budget Response Teams’ recommendations are finalized. Complete information on the Budget Response Teams is available here.
Questions and answers on the new mileage reimbursement rate can be found here.