The Cranberry Eagle
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 Article published October 10, 2012

SRU’s budget sees no cuts
State funding stays level

John Bojarski
Butler Eagle

SLIPPERY ROCK — With no decrease in state funding this year, Slippery Rock University has a $157.8 million budget for 2012-13 with no deficit and no cuts in staff or programs.
Charles Curry, vice president for finance and administration, said the fact there was no deficit to close was great.
“It’s huge,” Curry said of the budget, which the SRU Council of Trustees approved last week.
In July, the Legislature passed a state budget that kept funding level for the 14 state system universities, including SRU. This made the budgeting process easy, Curry said.
“It was fairly straightforward,” he said.
The budget is retroactive to July 1. SRU’s budget runs from July 1 to June 30.
That was much different than a year ago when the 2011-12 SRU budget was $156.4 million. To balance that budget, SRU officials had to contend with an $8 million deficit, mainly due to the decrease in state funding.
In the 2011 state budget, state funding for the 14 State System of Higher Education schools was cut 19 percent.
To close its deficit, SRU cut $2.4 million from its personnel budget. A total of 51 positions were affected. Thirteen positions were eliminated, mostly maintenance staff. The remaining 38 positions were modified.
SRU also made $5.6 million in nonpersonnel cuts, including eliminating the Division of Lifelong Learning and the environmental education program, cut equipment use, deferred maintenance and saved $1 million in utility costs.
Many of those cuts were small, such as cleaning campus buildings less often or emptying trash cans less frequently.
Curry said the $1.4 million increase from last year to this year is due to an increase in funds for projects and construction.
Pay for faculty members and coaches were kept level because they are working without a contract.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties and the state system are in negotiations for a new contract. The union has been without a contract since June 30, 2011.
SRU has 975 employees.
In July, the state system increased tuition for in-state students by $188, bringing it to $6,428 a year.