Report of the 2006/2007 Senate Budget Committee

Report of the 2006/2007 University of Oregon Senate Budget Committee

Report of the Senate Budget Committee
Meeting of the Senate
May 9, 2007

The Senate Budget Committee (SBC) is charged

to inform itself about issues that affect the financial well-being of the University. It will advise the President and the senate on budgetary policy and long-term financial strategies, and will keep the University Senate informed about financial matters. The committee will develop and maintain a broad overview of the UniversityÕs budget, paying particular attention to General Funds (i.e., State appropriations and tuition and fees). The Budget Committee may initiate the study of financial issues. (Article VI. 6.41)

This academic year, one of significant transition, the SBC pursued five agenda items:

1. Overview of current budgetary policies and long-term financial strategies. The committee has met and will meet with Linda Brady and Frances Dyke several times during the academic year to discuss budgetary policy and fiscal strategies. The financial situation remains uncertain, although the governorÕs budget proposal does arrest the decline in state appropriation to higher education.
2. Senate budget committee white paper implementation. The administration and the SBC remain committed to the aspirations set forth in the 15 March 2000 White Paper, which called for 95% of parity with our comparator institutions. After discussion, the SBC and Provost Brady agreed that we should aspire to nothing less than complete parity with our comparator institutions.
3. Compression/inversion salary rectification. The SBC, with the assistance of office of institutional research, has gathered salary information on salary compression and inversion for tenure related faculty. The SBC will collaborate with the administration to develop an approach designed to rectify unjust inequities.
4. Proposed changes to the retirement system. The chair of the SBC and the President of the University Senate wrote a letter to President Frohnmayer on November 3, 2006 identified concerns about proposed changes in the TDI and ORP programs administered by OUS. In response, OUS created an Advisory Committee on Retirement Plan Changes. Joe Stone and Larry Dann are members of the committee.
5. Consultation on internal budget model deliberations. The administration and committee investigating internal budget models have assured the SBC that it will be consulted when funding models the university might adopt are under consideration.

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