Committee advances UW budget

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has endorsed 85 new positions for UW–Madison but rejected full funding for the Madison Initiative and pared $700,000 in athletics funding.

In voting last week on the UW System budget, the committee unanimously voted to provide the campus with the 85 positions associated with the funding provided in the governor’s budget for the Madison Initiative.

But the committee rejected a motion, on an 8-8 vote, to restore full funding for the Madison Initiative, which would have provided an additional $16.2 million in state tax money (GPR). Funding for the Madison Initiative remains at the levels recommended by the governor: $2.0 million GPR and $9.8 million tuition.

And the committee voted to remove about $700,000 in tax money from the UW–Madison Athletic Department. These funds, the only state money provided for the department’s operating budget, had been used for women’s sports. These funds must now come from program revenue generated by the Athletic Department.

The budget still needs the approval of the full Legislature and governor.

“We will continue to work on these items with the legislative leadership as they continue their budget deliberations in the caucuses and in the Joint Leadership committees,” says UW System President Katharine Lyall.

Other committee action would:

• Provide the UW System an additional 54 positions for faculty and staff for the expanded enrollments recommended in the governor’s budget for business and workforce development initiatives. The UW–Madison master’s in biotechnology program is included in this initiative.
• Delete $750,000 in tuition funding for 15 additional advising positions throughout the UW System. Three of these positions would have been at UW–Madison.
• Fail to add $1.5 million for the Advanced Opportunity Program and Lawton minority grant programs. In a similar vote, the committee also rejected a motion to tie future increases in these programs to tuition increases.
• Provide the Board of Regents with authority to create positions within the GPR salary base appropriation, but rejected a motion to provide the Board of Regents authority to create positions with program revenue (tuition) funds.
• Allow the Board of Regents to set the salary range for certain UW executives, including the UW–Madison Chancellor and Provost. Currently the salary ranges are set by the Legislature.
• Delete a recommendation to require the UW System to offer 15 percent of all courses via distance education or during non-traditional hours.

  A more detailed listing of the Finance Committee’s action on the UW System budget is available on the State Relations Web site.

  The committee plans to finish work on the state budget by the middle of this week.

  Today, the committee is expected take up the 2001-2003 building program as recommended by the State Building Commission. For more information on the Building Commission recommendations, see the Legislative Fiscal Bureau briefing papers.

  Also on the committee’s agenda are agency base budget cuts, including the UW System base budget cut of $12.7 million. The state budget is still out of balance by approximately $600 million and more cuts may be made.

  Once the Joint Finance Committee has completed its action on the budget, the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Assembly Republican Caucus will each make their revisions to the bill.

  After the full Senate and full Assembly pass their respective versions of the budget bill a conference committee comprised of leadership from both legislative houses will work out the differences between the bills. Legislative leaders hope to have the conference committee meeting on the budget bill by the end of June.