General Studies, Mulrennan lab marked for budget cuts

Twenty-six personnel positions in FAMU’s School of General Studies and the John A. Mulrennan, Sr. Public Health Entomology Research & Education Center (PHEREC) could disappear in 2011-2012.

At this morning’s Board of Trustees meeting, President James H. Ammons announced that the university had moved 26 salary lines in those two units from recurring legislative dollars to temporary federal stimulus dollars, which will expire in 2011-2012.

Last summer, FAMU eliminated 50 percent of the staff positions at the Mulrennan lab. A number of the affected positions were already unfilled. Before last year’s cuts, 20 people worked at the lab.

FAMU is facing a $3.1M budget cut in 2010-2011 and will lose more than $8M in non-recurring stimulus dollars the year after that.

Unless the Florida Legislature appropriates more money to help pay for the 26 positions, they will be gone in 2011-2012. Ammons emphasized that he does not want to cut any jobs next year and will exhaust every possible option to save as many employees as possible.