Gov. Beebe nips $106 million in second budget cut move (Updated)
Submitted by The City Wire staff on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 3:22pm.
"Arkansans are being increasingly cautious with their money, and our government must reflect that in our use of tax dollars," Beebe said in a statement. "While we still foresee a recovery for our State economy, our spending must match the pace of that recovery to keep our budget balanced."
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe announced Monday (Jan. 11) a budget cut of $106 million in response to declining tax collections.
It’s the second cut in less than three months, with a $100 million cut pushed Oct. 20 after state tax collections fell 7.2% for the first three months (July-September) of the state’s fiscal year.
Updated info: The two rounds of budget cuts creates a more than $900,000 loss of “operating dollars” for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, according to a note from UAFS spokeswoman Sondra Lamar.
“This is particularly difficult because the second reduction only gives us six months to absorb it,” Dr. Paul Beran, UAFS chancellor, said in a statement. “We will be looking at every area of the university for savings, including things like critical decisions on whether to fill positions, whether we pursue some building projects that are in the planning stages but not begun, and whether or not we need to curtail non-essential travel.”
Collections improved somewhat but total $2.577 billion in the July-December period, down 3% below the same period in 2008.
The Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration has blamed the collections downturn on weak consumer sales, weak business-to-business sales and weather effects.
This round of cuts is 2.4% across the board, slightly higher than the 2.2% cut across the board in the first round of cuts.
Beebe’s statement also noted that other education funds will be “used to protect public education and adequacy requirements. Rainy-day funds and other set-asides will be used to lessen the impact of the cuts for the Departments of Human Services, Correction and Community Corrections.”
The first round of cuts in October pulled $432,254 from the $20.242 million in fiscal year 2010 state funds budgeted for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. At the time, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration at UAFS Mark Horn said the university’s 2010 budget included a set aside of almost $400,000 to be “held as insurance against a downward revision in the state revenue forecast.”
Horn said in October that another round of state cuts would not be a surprise, adding that UAFS officials were working on an “inventory of responses” to handle possible future cuts.
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Conquering fear, and loving the scenery at Beaver Lake
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Michael Collins
Life is Worth Living (and Whining about) in Fort Smith! Lets Change that!!!
I have been watching these Boards and occasionally commenting for the last year or so. Its great that everyone is free to express their opinions and for that we should thank God we live in this country. However, the expression of opinions is usually negative, which gets old sometimes. Can we make a deal? How about everyone of the regulars on this Board reply to this Blog
Tiredandold
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Budget worries? The people can help.
I don't have time to explain everything, so I'm resorting to bribery now. Maybe if I can get a little extra cash into your pocket and power in your hands, you'll start to see things my way. Motivations and influence is something I do understand. The rest you can pass on to your friends.
The big issue right now is the economy.
Let's all work together and help it out a bit. We the people style. Just aim for an American pocket while you're enjoying our truly awesome free market economy, and buy American made when you can. It's not always easy to find, so listen for the question while you're standing in line. "Did you find everything you were looking for?" No, I didn't, so we need to let our retailers know, as politely as possible, that the American worker is back in demand. Fill in the gaps. We need consumer confidence, jobs, and balanced trade. Talk to each other. Comment sections andwater coolers will do just fine.
If you will, take it from here.
Higher Ed
Just wondering...what will happen to the money typically budgeted for scholarships, now that the lottery is going to send so many students to school; and, wonder how much tuition will go up at all the higher ed institutions because they know that every student is coming with a $5000 gift from the state?
Just wondering...
extra money
Higher ed institutions are every bit as bad as the government entities. They will suck up all the money and be whining for more. The taxpayer will never get a break. Higher salaries, more benefits to the admin is my prediction. Oh yea more assitants to the assistant assistant in charge of assistants to the assistant will be necessary in the esteemed opinion of the bureaucrats in public education at any level.
uafs cutbacks
I really hope these people at UAFS are just speaking factually and not whining about the cuts. Look at all the buying,building and neighborhood busting going on around there. UAFS has been feeding handsomely at the public trough for too long. It is time they learn to live within their means as the rest of the dwindling number of actual tax payers. While they are looking themselves over, they should look at the grossly top heavy overpaid administrative structure. How many assistants to the assistant assistant vicepresident do they need?
you hit the nail on the
you hit the nail on the head......give them $1million they wanted $2million. Build them apartments, they wanna build dorms and the list goes on and on and on again......
yeah, really
give them a 2-yr school and then they'll want a 4-yr school then they'll want a grad school. the nerve!
yeah really ur wrong
Your sarcasim is misplaced. no one is against uafs progress, it is just the ostentatious way they go about it. Look at the generous tax base they work off of and then give some thought as to why U of A would want Westark in the first place. Follow the money as they say. Then on top of that you have this monster top heavy admin structure.
Exactly
What happened to our 2-year trade school? Now that's the kind of education we need to be providing to youth of this town. Something that will help them make a living in one of the many area factories. What jobs are there for a four-year degree student in Fort Smith? Education should be targeted to the local economy and Fort Smith is a blue-collar economy and always will be.
The two year programs are still there
Technical certificates as well. I don't think there are any plans to get rid of them.
Travel
How about Beran cutting out all of his globe trotting travel to places like China, Boston, South America etc? As well as cutting that personal University paid for Mercury Milan he drives around town in. I think that would save the school the $900,000.
Campus Beautification
Cutting out some of the kawasaki mules and tractors that people drive around on all day deliver mulch and cottenseed and all the other stuff would save some money. I realize it is very important for the campus to stay nice, I went to school at UAFS for 5 years and drive by there every day, I like something nice to look at, but after being on campus so much there were a lot of things that could be trimmed out. Also, I am not sure who paid for the landscaping in the middle of Grand Avenue, and though it looks nice, I dont think it was a great idea. It cuts down visibility for drivers and ignorant students who like to run across 4 lanes of traffic. I really hope the school didn't pay for that landscaping in the middle of the road.
Landscaping on Grand
How many students have been run over since the landscaping was put in?
Just wait, it'll happen. I
Just wait, it'll happen. I see them run in and out of it all the time even though there are crosswalks and that stupid tunnel available right there.
yep, somebody will be hurt
yep, somebody will be hurt there before too long, just like sadly a few years back someone was killed over there crossing by the library. I believe that was even in a crosswalk that was there at the time!
You get what you pay for..........
All this complaining about UAFS. This is a great example of how people will try to turn something good into a negative.
If you want Great Instructors/Professors to teach our kids at UAFS it costs money. To have Great Ins/Pro's doing that, it takes Great Leadership. If you want to attract Great Ins/Pro's to Fort Smith, it takes making connections around the world as well as in the USA. All that takes money.
As far as the trips to China and other countries at the expense of UAFS, GO FOR IT !! UAFS would still be a small two year college if not for the efforts put forth to bring talent to this city and university.
Talent doesn't come cheap. Everyone wants to complain that our young people leave Ft. Smith at the first chance they get and never come back. The efforts at UAFS to attract quality people is just a small piece of the BIG picture when it comes to growing the culture and quality of people in the river valley. We need to hold them accountable for what they spend and how they do it. But if it is working (and it obliviously is) we need to support them. If it wasn't for some of the work done by UAFS, Mitsubishi would have never considered Arkansas.
you get what you pay for....NOT
Please don't use that phrase when talking to the diminishing number of people who actually pay taxes. Taxpayers clearly don't get what they pay for.
taxpayers
None of us are getting what we pay for when it comes to taxes. Yes, I know that a large part of the UAFS budget is supported by MY tax dollars and I am just fine with that. As far as the number of people that are paying taxes is diminishing, that is our own governments fault. There is nothing worse than someone abusing our system and getting paid to sit at home and produce offspring without having a job. I will proudly pay my taxes but wish the government would get their act together. I do not like our benefit system at all. Most of the people that claim that they can't find a job either aren't looking or won't stoop to a job that they feel they are too qualified for. There are 100's of jobs here in the river valley that stay open EVERY day of the week.
taxpayers understands
Now if the Observer could respond like that instead of using petty insults we could have a rational discussion.
You make a good point about our local taxes being used locally at UAFS but still the old money spigot to UAFS needs to slow down. Too many other worthwhile and badly needed things around the area need help.
I'm Sorry
That you feel so picked on and abused. Welcome to the victim society. From one person who pays taxes and considers it a privilege to live in this community and country....grow up.
Sorry Observer
Still happy,I see!!
I'm sorry ...for you
I expected such a response from a bleeding heart liberal.
Re: You get what you pay for.
You nailed it. There is no greater engine for progress than the university.
Both retaining local talent and recruiting strong students from outside the area will result in more research and development in new and emerging fields which will lead to the kind of jobs the area desperately needs to diversify and raise the standard of living and organically improve "quality of place". Manufacturing recruitment and limiting the talent pool strictly to local students will only get us so far down the road of progress.
first you have to start with
first you have to start with local, and regional before you go global. Simple startup business policy. Shouldnt be this complicated.
apples and oranges
Startups on the internet have global reach.
Overly simplistic and irrelevant analogies for the win!
Great idea man, sounds good,
Great idea man, sounds good, lets go global with a school that doesnt even have enough parking for its students. Typical governement, never worry about size or costs!
Same Discussion, Different topic
It seems that all our discussions have the same theme. Progress and growth opposed to fixing potholes. There are those who wish to grow into something more than we presently have and those who wish to resurface and polish the existing infastructure. I'm sure regular readers know where I fall.
An example of contradiction is the commentator who bemoans "busting up neighborhoods" and this Anon who complains there are not enough parking places. And they are on the same side of the consversation!
Fort Smith Junior College, Westark and now University of Arkansas Fort Smith has been striving since 1928 to meet the needs of our citizens and community. Those needs grow and the seeds being planted at UAFS are helping position our community for a global mission. We aren't in Kansas, or Fort Smith, AR anymore we are in the world. Mitsubishi and Rheem are Japanese and Hiram Walker is Canadian. Bekert Steel is Belgian. Wake up people, our community is the world. Get over it.
Our community is the world
Yes, those are worldwide companies. But, these are still blue-collar jobs paying blue-collar wages! Yes, wake up people! Why have a 4 year program graduating students who find that their only employment solution is to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Dallas, or even NW Arkansas? We need UAFS to not forget why it was created. Train our people for our blue collar jobs.
..wait.
So you're griping about spending but you expect your own parking space? Go to pretty much any college and there are more students than parking spaces. Take a bus, walk or have a friend drop you off like college students elsewhere.
man you dont get the point
man you dont get the point here.....i dont want or think i deserve anything from the University, i went there 4years and did plenty of my fair share of walking. All i'm sayin is that when you are a student, it's hard to understand why the University, with what you are somewhat supporting (notice i somewhat, i realize most is taxpayer funds) is spending money on pet projects such as expensive trips and a hefty admin bill, all the while i'm simply tryin to work and pay for tuition and $900 a semester book bills. Its not i dont want the school to grow, because i do, its the fact you have to meet the needs of the local people first.
point
Maybe YOU don't get the point. The University IS meeting the needs of the local people. They are doing whatever it takes to recruit the right people to teach our kids. If you don't understand the importance of the world wide picture, then go to the university and have someone explain it to you so you can understand it. So many people around here want to complain about how "back woods" Arkansas is and how it is "blue collar" but yet when you have an award winning University and staff, you want to bash them too.
I appreciate the staff, i
I appreciate the staff, i just think the top structure is overloaded. Go to UAFS, take a few classes, let me know what you think of the overpaid admin staff while you are sitting in junky desks, with rooms built 40yrs ago that havent been updated, while you listen to a heater that sounds like it might blow up or wait for an AC to kick on that never does. THEN decide if you want to spend money on globe trotting and recruiting from far away places.
Specifics
Exactly which buildings haven't been updated in 40 years? The campus has been almost totally redone over the last two decades.
The Holt Building,
The Holt Building, Ballman-spear, Breedlove Building (including Breedlove auditorium, The Library (granted we are getting a new one). Parts of the Math Science building are starting to show it's age. Flanders is also showing it's age. Gardner is inadequate for most any class, with a lack of computers. Really all that is brand new is the new Fullerton Administration Building(and depending on what you call new, this was a large remodel) and the Pendergraft Health Sciences Center.
buildings
Many of those buildings were either built (library, Math-Science) or renovated (Flanders) within the last 20-25 years. The 40-yr-old classroom statement is a gross exaggeration, although Holt (I think that's the one) could definitely use an upgrade.
Local needs are not going unmet. You can still sign up for 2-yr programs and technical certificates. Tuition is still a deal compared to other public universities and a steal compared to private colleges.
Traveling the globe and recruiting kids from outside the area helps bring in more students which leads to more revenue to improve or build new facilities while also raising the bar academically.
I agree with your thinking
I agree with your thinking that obv things take money! Clearly it takes money for me to pay my house payment, pay my bills, buy food etc....but the fact of the matter is, is that all of us are cutting back and the needless spending by UAFS is out of line. Please remember this is a REGIONAL (meaning 99% of people are from AR, OK, MO, TX,LA, with most likely 80% from OK and AR) University and until 2002 it wasnt even that. How about instead of spending money traveling to far away places, we spend money around home, trying to get kids from places that would actually come here. I graduated with a degree from UAFS, i appreciate the faculty, but i just think its sad when you sit at old desks, have sub-par heating/cooling systems, but we forsure have a chancellor that goes to China and drives around in a school paid car. Sure wish those to things were my job duties.
The Future's so Bright!
Where do the students at Subiaco Academy come from and why?
Short answer: they come from near and far... and for good reason. Believe it or not, academic reputation far exceeds the other reasons.
Attracting students from near and far at UAFS will raise the bar overall. Foreign students with academic creditials offer a rewarding challenge to teaching staff and raises the bar for all undergraduate learning.
Recruited students will more then likely progress towards graduate school. How they test in placement exams will reflect on directly upon UAFS' reputation.
As they succeed in life, they will continue to enhance the overall reputation of UAFS as an advanced degree prep school.
That helps the local 80% bachelor degree students as well as they start their careers.
A great regional university with an international reputation for academic excellence....care to put a price tag on that? It is certainly worth building a bridge to somewhere.
Bright
Convivial !!
Some people will never understand the importance of an education. YOUR comment above is PERFECT. You can't put a price tag on reputation. Let the ones that want to go to a 2 year school and work for an hourly wage the rest of their lives have at it. Let the ones that want to have a great University and get a 4 year degree and have some initiative to make a difference GO FOR IT.
Just be glad we have a University, just think if we didn't and all the kids had to leave to go else where..........
I dont think that is a job
I dont think that is a job for a regional University. The needs of the community need to come first. I am all for ethnic diversity, but i dont believe students that come to UAFS from other countries benefit the school. They are enticed by cheaper tuition or sports possibilites, then they go back to their country. How does that benefit the citizens of AR or OK? When AR has one of the lowest college graduate rates in the country, we need to focus on our regional kids/students FIRST.
rising tides
A rising tide will lift all boats.
I don't think any regional students have been turned away because UAFS recruited from afar.
Look around you; many have come to this area, liked it and stayed. Just like those from here, went to other universities, liked it, and didn't come back.
Good post convivial
I was born here. I go to UAFS part time and I usually don't have any trouble getting in the classes I want to take.
I feel like I benefit from the cultural diversity. Not just in a lovey-dovey way either, It's nice to have native speakers around when you are learning a second language.
i agree with Matt1524. I
i agree with Matt1524. I understand the point of recruiting, but i believe that the University needs to foucs more of its time and money on local students that are from the area that are most likely to have an impact on the area.