Jobs part of UNL budget cuts

LINCOLN — Eight University of Nebraska-Lincoln communication employees received layoff notices Tuesday as part of $3.5 million in budget cuts recommended by Chancellor Harvey Perlman.

The cuts must be reviewed by the Academic Planning Committee before they take effect, so the employees have at least 90 days before their jobs would be actually cut.

More cuts are yet to come. Perlman has said UNL needs to cut about $5.2 million yet this spring and likely more after the Board of Regents approves next year’s budget in June.

During a special session last fall, state lawmakers trimmed $24 million from the current University of Nebraska budget.

The final amount will depend in part on whether the Legislature approves additional cuts in the ongoing regular session and how much the regents raise tuition.

The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee advanced a state budget proposal Tuesday that left the University of Nebraska system untouched.

Administrators at other NU campuses also are looking at ways to reduce their budgets.

Last month, Kearney Chancellor Doug Kristensen announced $800,000 in cuts, but he said another $1.6 million in reductions would be in store before the two-year budget period ends June 30, 2011.

The Medical Center has set a budget-cutting target of $2 million effective July 1, said John Adams, assistant vice chancellor of business and finance. Deans and department heads are to submit proposed cuts by March 31.

The Omaha campus also is in the process of identifying budget cuts.

Bill Conley, UNO vice chancellor of business and finance, said the amount is yet to be determined and could be mitigated by tuition and enrollment increases. In the meantime, faculty and staff are working to minimize expenses.

Perlman recommended eliminating the communication and information technology unit for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources on UNL’s East Campus.

In all, 18 communication jobs would be cut, with eight people getting layoff notices. About 30 remaining employees will be reassigned, said Alan Moeller, assistant IANR vice chancellor.

Perlman said many of the jobs in question were vacant because university officials had anticipated cutting the unit.

Moeller said it was his responsibility to notify the employees that they could lose their jobs.

“It was not a good day,” he said. “These are good, valued employees who had done nothing wrong.’’

The cuts would save $1.4 million, mostly in salaries and benefits, out of the office’s $3.8 million annual budget.

Some of the remaining money would be used to create new agricultural literacy and agricultural journalism programs for UNL students.

Perlman said many of the office’s functions will be reassigned to the downtown campus’s University Communications office and to UNL’s Information Services Department.

Other budget cuts announced Tuesday:

• About $2 million would be saved by assigning certain library expenses to the Office of Research, which would pay them with portions of research grants allocated for facilities and administration.

• About $73,000 in state funding would be cut from the Lentz Center for Asian Studies, resulting in the elimination of two vacant jobs, including that of its director, who is retiring.

• One vacant associate vice chancellor position would be eliminated from the Office of Academic Affairs, with job duties assumed by remaining staff.

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