"State budget cuts costs, provides capital funding"

UB's path to completing the UB 2020 plan may have to slow down in 2009 when the new state budget goes into effect.

All campuses in the State University of New York (SUNY) system will have their operations budgets cut by 2.9 percent. UB, however, will receive about $138 million in capital spending to build structures on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus downtown.

UB officials appreciate the capital funding, but think that pairing it with the operations cut makes the budget disconnected this year.

We get money for buildings, but we at the same time have the budget that pays all the bills, including all the salaries, reduced," said UB President John B. Simpson. "You get buildings, but you don't get anything to put in them."

The $138 million will go towards three projects: a Clinical and Translational Research Building, which will cost $105 million; establishing the M. Wile building as UB's downtown gateway; and a research incubator building similar to the one on Sweet Home Road that will cost about $32 million, according to UB Provost Satish Tripathi.

Planning for these buildings began recently, and the entire process will take four to five years to complete.

Gov. David Paterson, the SUNY Assembly and the SUNY University Senate negotiated the three percent budget cut, according to Tripathi, and the effects reach further than just the upcoming fiscal year.

"The budget is not a one-year problem. Every time there is a budget problem it's at least a couple of years," Tripathi said, adding that UB's spending cuts will remain unclear until the SUNY budget is submitted on July 1.

Simpson also thinks a budget cut of this size is not to be taken lightly.

"A budget cut is with consequences. It's not something the state can do and expect nobody to notice," Simpson said. "We operate very efficiently with very thin funding. And that vulnerability is revealed when something like this happens."

With $358 million being spent on operations costs during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, a 2.9 percent cut is significant and will amount to about $10.4 million, Tripathi said.

"[It] is not a small cut if you think about how tight the overall budget is," he said. "Hopefully it will not impact the education part of the campus."

SUNY Assembly delegate Rohan D'Souza thinks the cut will affect UB's ability to compete with other public research universities.

"We're looking for us to be more competitive in the higher education system. This [goal] is taking a huge blow by receiving less funding than last year," D'Souza said. "If we're going to be starved by the legislators as far as funding is concerned, we're just going to keep falling."

Compared to other public research universities in the US, UB's funding is low, according to Tripathi.

"If you compare ourselves with other public research universities, we are not funded as well," Tripathi said.

UB officials and representatives often compare the university to the public higher education systems in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

While UB will be dealing with a three percent operations cut, Michigan State University (MSU) will receive a three percent increase next year, according to the state's Office of the Budget Web site. However, MSU's tuition costs may rise seven percent for the fall 2008 semester, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Tuition fees will remain the same throughout the SUNY system this year, which D'Souza pointed out as a positive aspect of the budget for students.

UB's allotment in the SUNY budget also impacts the Western New York region.

"[The university] is a really major economic engine for this region," Tripathi said. "Every dollar UB brings in, it generates two to three extra dollars; we've got real economic impact. So, UB's budget cut surely will have economic impact in the surrounding community because there is not as much money to spend."

Many other states are also experiencing economic hardships that are affecting budgets, according to Tripathi.

"This year is a challenging year for budget, not just in New York but the rest of the country as well," he said.

Simpson has also noticed the trend, and is not surprised by it since he sees budget increases and cuts as a cyclical process.

"You go to any state in the country now and their public institutions are having their budget messed with in some way. I think it's simply a fact you have to learn to live with," Simpson said.

Although officials have accepted the reality of a budget cut, there is still a sense of disappointment.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't do better with our operations funding because I want the institution to be able to push its agenda of excellence and the budget's going the wrong way for that," Simpson said.

Still, Simpson is confident that UB 2020 plans will continue through 2009 despite the operations budget cut.

"We're going to do 2020. It's not going to go at the same pace I might like, but it's going to happen," Simpson said.

Tripathi also believes the 2020 plan will move forward even though the public higher education system is not safe from the effects of New York's poor economic state.

"If you think about it, of course we knew that the overall economic situation in New York is not good, [but] you're hoping that the higher education system, especially the public higher education which is such an important part of the future of this state...would be safe in some way," Tripathi said. "It's always disappointing to get a budget cut."

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