The UC Board of Regents met Tuesday afternoon via teleconference for a special meeting to finalize the approval of the state-wide budget.
The Committee on Finance discussed various issues concerning the budget, and it recommended to the Regents that they approve the changes in the budget plan for the 2008-09 fiscal year. The new budget appropriations grant the universities a total of $3.032 billion in State General Funds.
This excludes one-time funding for UC Merced and lease revenue payments, according to documents on the UC Regents’ Web site.
The University of California receives $48.7 million less funding than the previous year, said Katherine N. Lapp, the executive vice president of business operations.
“The final state budget provides us with a little over three billion in State General Funds. That number is about $48.7 million less than what we got the year before,” she said.
With increased costs for services, along with the budget deficit, she said the UC expects to have to redirect $148.7 million from existing resources.
“With the expected cost increases, it is estimated that the university will need to redirect a total of $148.7 million from existing resources, which is the equivalent of a roughly 5 percent reduction,” she said.
In January, the governor had originally intended to cut more than $100 million in state funding for the universities, but a revised budget in May restored $98.5 million in funding.
The final budget plan includes $160 million in revenue from increased student fees, which together with revenue from other sources gives the university an expected $129 million in increased revenue from last year.
The plan also relies on additional expected revenue from restructuring efforts at the UC Office of the President.
An expected $28 million in additional funding would come from the programs that are being relocated to other departments.
Some of the additional provisions in the state spending plan include additional funding for student mental health, which would be funded through the increase in the registration fee for the university.
The Regents also discussed the possibility of re-contributing pension plans to UC workers, though nothing formal was agreed upon.
“I hate to remind everybody that there is an issue that some of us have wanted to deal with for a long time, and it’s now become a real problem, and that is the pension fund. 13 months ago we were at 110 percent funding, we’re now probably down to about 80 percent or below,” said Chairman Richard Blum. “I think at some point, in spite of all this mess, we need to start focusing on how we start re-contributing.”