During a Board of Trustees Committee meeting, FAMU President James H. Ammons provided an update on how the university would account for a 10 percent reduction if implemented for the 2012-2013 academic year.The Governor’s Office and Florida Legislature have asked state agencies and universities to identify recurring budget reductions that can be made for the fiscal year 2012-2013 in an event that budget reductions are necessary.
“The reduction should total at least 10 percent of the 2011-2012 recurring revenues which is $7,858,247 and 10 percent for recurring trust funds or lottery which amounts to $1,195,588,” said Ammons. “All reductions should be recurring, program/issue specific and cannot be across-the-board percentage reductions. All programs must be fully evaluated. As you are well aware, any reductions to our budget will require looking even closer at each and every unit on campus.”
Ammons also told board members that reductions of this magnitude would again require a layoff of personnel. The other possibilities, he said, include looking at combining or eliminating functional areas, reviewing non-academic/non-credit generating units, analyzing the next level of low productivity programs with the goal of cutting total programs and seeking alternative arrangements for students to complete their degrees at other institutions.
“Such cuts may have to be “deep” and would also interfere with enrollment goals,” said Ammons. “Nothing is off the table. However, any potential reduction will harm recruitment of the best and brightest students and the retention of great faculty. We would eliminate current less than critical vacancies within each administrative and academic unit, and consider additional administrative cuts, across the university, with an accompanying increase in shared resources.”
FAMU has been asked to send this information to the Board of Governors by August 19, 2011.