Recent Memos
Questions, Suggestions and Comments
Following are Questions, Suggestions, and Comments regarding the University of Massachusetts Boston budget, offered by the University of Massachusetts Boston students, faculty and staff. Responses are included, if appropriate.
Suggestions:
Friday April 17, 2009
Given the fact UMass Boston will be receiving generous assistance from the federal stimulus package—indeed,
Governor Patrick has indicated that the UMass system will be level funded—why is the administration still preparing
for severe budget cuts? In particular, why is there a hiring freeze and why are departments still facing 6 and nine
percent cuts?
Shauna Lo
Response
Dear Shauna Lo,
Thank you for your question. Like you, we are thankful for the federal stimulus money that will go toward higher education in Massachusetts and to our campus in particular; however, until the legislature completes the state budget in the summer, we will not know exactly how much funding UMass Boston will receive.
We do know that, even in a best-case scenario, the federal stimulus funding is not enough to fill the financial gap created by the 13 percent reduction in support for our campus in the governor’s proposed FY10 budget and in the House’s proposed FY10 budget, compared to UMass Boston’s original FY09 budget. Even with the federal stimulus money, our current analyses indicate a large funding gap for our campus in FY10. In addition, the federal stimulus money is temporary funding that will end in two years. Consequently, the governor, the secretary of education, leaders of the state legislature, and our chancellor have all warned us to plan for a future of lower state appropriations.
Although we are working to refine our revenue estimates, we will also have to reduce expenses to achieve a balanced budget in FY10. To help achieve the necessary savings, we have implemented a hiring freeze and also asked the vice chancellors to prepare 6- and 9-percent expense reduction scenarios so that we can understand the implications of budget cuts on our academic enterprise and operations. We will use the goals of the strategic plan to evaluate our options and to guide our decision making. Should the final result of the state budget process provide our campus with more resources than we currently anticipate, you can be sure that we will revisit our FY10 expense reduction decisions.
Katie Hope - Administration & Finance
Friday March 27, 2009
One place to save money is to change the way that payroll is reported for hourly and student employees. Currently, time
is submitted on Thursday or Friday for the week in progress. This forces employees to project what will be worked on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday - where applicable. If a person does not work any of the time submitted for those three
days, there is a short timeframe within which to make a correction in the system. It is difficult for a supervisor with
many hourly employees to stay on top of such changes, and may enable someone to take advantage and get paid for time that
they don't work. A suggested change would be to report time on Thursday to reflect what was worked from the previous
Thursday to Wednesday. Having employees only report time after it was worked and will save money by allowing the
supervisors to monitor accuracy much easier and reduce the opportunity for a corrupt employee to mis-report hours.
Chris Fitzgerald
Response
The University payroll system is operated on a bi-weekly payroll cycle. The suggestion to report time on Thursday to
reflect what was worked from the previous Thursday to Wednesday will not meet our workweek schedule, which runs from
Sunday to Saturday. Time entries for all department personnel are available beginning on Thursday and ending on Friday
of each week; time entries can be edited or amended on the follow Monday. Therefore, the timekeepers should have
sufficient time to make any corrections.
Becky Hsu - Human Resources
Monday March 30, 2009
Why doesn't HR go paperless on the payroll. The Bursar just launched their campagne to go paperless on the billing process. It is currently optional, but I bet they will save money in the long run!
Joan Reynolds
Response
As part of the upgrade of our payroll/HR system, we are heading in the paperless direction. With the upcoming
implementation of Employees Self Service, employees can view their paychecks using the View Paycheck transaction
and they can print their paychecks in a PDF format. Hopefully, it won't be long before we can eliminate the printing
of pay statements entirely. In addition, we are rolling out a Manager Self Service pilot program to implement a number
of on-line Manager Self Service transactions in June of 2009.
Becky Hsu - Human Resources
Monday March 30, 2009
This is a small thing but probably contributes to cost. I notice that in the first floor women's bathroom in Wheatley
water faucets are often left running or the faucet is faulty and does not automatically close as it should. I am always
turning them off.
I notice that some faucets in the women's rooms in the Student Center are beginning to have the same shut-off problems.
Kitty Galaitsis
Monday March 30, 2009
As we are no longer supposed to use the upper and lower level garages, couldn't we save some money by shutting off
all the lights that seem to be on 24 hours a day?
Robert Caron
Questions:
Friday March 27, 2009
In Chancellor Motley's memo of 3/27/09, he reiterates the likley need for either a 6% or 9% reduction in spending for
various units. He also has called for an immediate hiring freeze except for tenure-track faculty and positions fully
funded by federal grants. All other positions it seems are subject to the immediate freeze. At the end of the memo the
Chancellor states: "I am confident that by working together we can continue to move our univerisity forward even through
these difficult times." My questions for the Chancellor are: how in good conscience can we claim that, in the face of
these kinds of cuts and freezes and especially given the human toll that these cuts and freezes will extract, that we
will be able to move forward? aren't these cuts and freezes likely in truth to move us back not forward? by taking this
stance aren't we failing to be candid with our students, staff, faculty, parents, and the public in general? isn't it
more truthful to say that because of these cuts and freeze we will be less able to fulfill our mission to teach and serve
students as effectively, to further our urban mission, to continue our vital research?
Paul Watanabe
Response
Dear Professor Watanabe:
We appreciate your question and your candor. Chancellor Motley’s March 27, 2009 memo to the campus described the very serious financial difficulties currently facing UMass Boston. Nonetheless, Chancellor Motley has challenged his leadership team not to retrench and make across-the-board cuts, but rather to take a hard look at all of our programs and activities and to weigh them against our strategic plan and objectives. We acknowledge that our forward momentum may be slowed, even with the governor’s recent announcement. As we gain a clearer understanding of our 2010 budget, certain programs and activities that are lower in priority and do not further our strategic plan will likely face the greatest scrutiny and larger funding reductions.
But our budget process will not be only about cutting. It will also be about looking to the future, taking a multi-year
perspective, and ensuring that we are allocating our resources to support the goals of our strategic plan and protecting
our academic core and student experience. Consequently, even as we look to reduce spending in certain areas, we are
moving forward in a variety of ways, including:
• Recruitment and hiring of 46 tenure-system faculty
• Search for a new provost
• Design of the Integrated Sciences Center, as well as progress on other aspects of the master plan
• Planning for enrollment growth in the fall and the services required to support an increased number of students.
As we look around at the Commonwealth, the nation and even the world, we understand that we are not alone in facing
large challenges. We also know that going forward is a statement of faith in our campus, it faculty, staff, and
administrators. Our mission is too important to allow the campus to stand still or move backwards. We have pledged to
have an open and participatory budget process. We are committed to working with you and the rest of the UMass Boston
community to persevere through these difficult times and to advance our goal of making the University of Massachusetts Boston
a great student-centered, urban public research university.
Ellen O’Connor and Katie Hope