Budget update: Nov. 27
November 27, 2019
Thank you to all who attended last week’s budget forum, in person or online. We had
over 200 participants. I appreciate the time you took to engage in this topic and
the thoughtful questions you shared online and in person. I’d like to recap a few
questions and answers this week.
Q: What is UAF doing to reduce administrative costs?
A: Between spring 2015-2019 UAF is down 151 faculty, including adjuncts, and 242 regular
and temporary staff, including senior administrators. As part of our FY20 and FY21
budget planning, UAF is conducting an expedited administrative review led by governance.
This review of administration will be a first of its kind for UAF and is being done
to parallel our expedited academic review. We will also look to increase our use of
shared services across UAF. Arriving at the right approach to shared services, however,
will require feedback and collective buy-in. We will not rush into a new shared service
model but build on the shared services organically grown and already in place at UAF.
Q: It has been several years since the staff at UAF received a COLA increase. Is there
any hope that this will happen in FY21?
A: The system’s FY21 budget guidance includes a 1 percent general compensation adjustment
in addition to the market adjustments underway to bring all regular employees to 90
percent of the market median.
Q: The salary survey has concluded and UA is working to get employees towards a more
competitive wage. The Board of Regents approved $3+ million for FY20 towards this
effort. Correct? Will I see any of the allocation in my budget to help offset that
unexpected expense? Or should I be cutting costs elsewhere?
A: The Board of Regents approved $3.4 million in reallocations in FY20 for market adjustments. Unfortunately, this is not an addition to the University’s
budget- it is direction from the Regents to reallocate $3.4 million from other parts
of our budget to spend on this effort. This reallocation is occurring at the same
time that the University is adjusting to an overall cut of $25M this year to the UA
system. At UAF, units were advised in July 2019 to budget for a 1 percent compensation
increase for all employees in FY20. At that time it was not clear what form of increase
might be approved by the Regents. That 1 percent increase was not included in the
FY20 budget in favor of making progress towards 90% of market for employees off this
mark. For most units, the funding needed for the market adjustments was within the
funding they budgeted for a 1% across the board. For the few units that were disproportionately
impacted by the market adjustments, we will be working to address the gap. Additional
information about the compensation review process is available from UA Human Resources
at https://www.alaska.edu/classification/compensation-review/, updated with new FAQs in November 2019.
Our next forum is this coming Tuesday, December 3, at 1 pm in the Wood Center. It
will be focused on tuition — how rates are developed, how that process might be improved,
where tuition goes and what it funds, as well as discussion about the latest tuition
proposal. I hope you’ll join us.
Thank you for choosing UAF.