Casteen: State asking for more cuts

By Aaron Lee

Published: October 2, 2008

University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III’s remarks to the school’s Board of Visitors on Thursday led off by focusing on the projected state revenue shortfall that likely will soon impact publicly funded higher education.

It was only in the last several weeks that state agencies became aware the projected shortfall over the next two years had ballooned from $1 billion to almost $3 billion.
Prior to word of the new dollar figure Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had asked all agencies, including state colleges and universities, for proposals on how to cut 5, 10 and 15 percent from their budgets.

Under Virginia law, the governor can make cuts up to 15 percent while the state’s legislature is out of session. The hit taken over the last year by the nation’s housing market and the slowdown in the amount of money being generated by state retail-sales taxes both have been cited as contributing to the revenue shortfall.
Casteen lamented in his remarks to the board that the cuts UVa is being asked to make are meant to be permanent, and thus made the university’s proposed cuts harder to compile.
At 5 percent, the university would have to cut $7.6 million in state money. At 15 percent, the cut would mean a loss of $22.8 million, he said.
State and university officials have said in recent weeks that the university’s hospital and financial aid programs would not be affected by the current round of proposed budget cuts.

Since then, UVa officials have been told by state officials that the cuts would likely be somewhere around 10 percent, Casteen said.
That estimate, however, was made prior to the recent announcement that the state’s projected budget shortfall had increased to around $2.9 billion, he said.
The university’s proposed budget cuts were due to the state by Sept. 26.
News of how deep the cut will go could come by mid-October.

UVa’s Board of Vistors — the school’s main governing body — will finish its round of meetings on Saturday.