Dear Faculty and Staff,
On April 11, President Patterson updated the campus community on proposed budget reductions requested by the Governor. The update indicated that the college needs to plan for a 4% budget reserve that the State will sweep this fiscal year. Because this request is coming in the 4th quarter of the year, this is tantamount to a 16% cut. The Governor also requested plans for 6%, 10% and 14% budget reductions for the next budget year, Fiscal Year 2021.
The college’s goal for addressing these budget reductions are to minimize the impact to core instruction and student services, protect current employees to the maximum extent possible and to continue to grow the college. Consistent with these principles, Nevada State has submitted budget reduction plans to the Board of Regents which have been approved and submitted to the Governor’s Finance Office.
The required 4% reduction for FY20 will be met with salary savings from delayed or frozen searches, transferring allowable State funded expenses to self-supporting accounts, and cuts to operational balances. The operational cuts will come from departmental budgets as follows:
- One hundred percent (100%) of the available travel (6300 ledger lines) balances on all accounts as of April 16, 2020 will be swept to the 4% reserve;
- Ninety percent (90%) of the available general operations and printing (6000 and 6400 ledger lines) balances on all accounts as of April 16, 2020 will be swept to the 4% reserve
The solution for the first FY2021 reductions is funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This funding will take care of the entire 6% reduction scenario and part of the 10% level. The next level of reduction will be across the board cuts to departmental budgets. These reductions will be as follows:
- Fifty percent (50%) of all Host Accounts
- Thirty-five percent (35%)of all budgeted travel
- Ten percent (10%) of all budgeted general operations and printing
Beyond these solutions, the cuts become more impactful. The 10% and 14% reductions will require personnel furloughs (½ day per month for the 10% reduction and 1 day per month for the 14%) be applied to Academic and Administrative Faculty, including campus leadership and executives. The furlough will generate savings on both State funded and self-supporting sources. The self-supporting savings will absorb some of the expenses normally funded by State funds. For the 14% reduction, the college will need to apply a student fee surcharge of $5 per credit hour.
The departmental budget cuts will impact all state and self-supporting accounts, except for grants. Questions regarding grants should be directed to postaward@nsc.edu. All questions regarding the budget reductions to travel, general operations, and printing should be directed to budgetoffice@nsc.edu.
Budget reductions are never an easy process. Nevada State College fully understands the economic realities that exist from the COVID‐19 health and economic crisis and is taking the necessary steps to meet the requested reduction in order to help our State restore its financial health.
Thank you,
Division of Finance and Business Operations