A presentation from the University Senate’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee on Wednesday expressed hope the university would give more attention to the library and also look at ways to cut costs.

At the USen meeting, the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee presented its report on the 2010-11 fiscal year and provided recommendations for the administration. The budget passed with no opposition. Also discussed during the budget presentation were an increase in undergraduate tuition, fundraising results, and costs and changes with SU Press.

Martha Garcia-Murillo, chair of the budget and fiscal affairs committee, presented the budget and called attention to several points, including the library receiving lower funding than its peers at other institutions. There are significant resources still needed for E.S. Bird Library and Carnegie Library, as well as the library storage facility, she said.

The Office of the Provost and the Office of Budget and Planning are working to determine the level of funding required for the library. For fiscal year 2012, the library will be provided approximately $900,000 in new funding, according to the budget, and $400,000 will be funded on a recurring basis.

Tom Sherman, a member of USen’s Library Committee, said he was pleased to see the additional attention toward the library, but said he would like to see a guarantee the university will continue to work to bring up the library.

‘I just fear that we’ll fall back again,’ Sherman said.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor supported Sherman’s point and said establishing a long-term plan for the library was something that ‘absolutely needs to be done.’

SU continues to rely significantly on undergraduate tuition, which makes up 42 percent of the budget. The committee voted unanimously to increase undergraduate tuition 3.8 percent over the fiscal year 2011. Board and room costs also increased by 3.7 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

But revenues from tuition are not increasing at a rate that sustains the university’s growing costs. Costs for facilities and health care are main concerns, Garcia-Murillo said.

‘The health care increases were significant to the extent that they could not be passed on to university employees,’ Garcia-Murillo said.

The committee recommended SU look for more ways to cut health care costs. It also suggested the university consider the approach other institutions have taken and not increase the salaries of top officials, due to current economic challenges.

Other business discussed:

• The university has seen a substantial increase in the amount of fundraising that comes from gifts and pledges, Garcia-Murillo said. Twenty-eight percent of what was raised came from university trustees, according to the budget. However, costs of fundraising did increase from 0.11 to 0.14 per dollar raised, but remained below the standard of 0.16 per dollar raised.

• Sponsored faculty research is one area the university has seen increased success with, as the number of faculty involved in grant proposals has increased by 133 percent in the past five years, Garcia-Murillo said. Additionally, the success rate has increased by 10 percent.

• SU Press has been folded into the library. There was brief discussion about whether this was logical, considering the finances and scale of the two operations. Suzanne Thorin, dean of the library, said the change has been beneficial for costs and has allowed the two to better use information technology services and establish e-books.

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on March 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride