During The University of Toledo Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee meeting held yesterday morning at the Dana Conference Center on Health Science Campus, President Lloyd Jacobs reiterated comments made in a campus video on Friday, saying that due to the tough economic times in Ohio, the University will have to lay off some employees.
Jacobs told the board that the administration already has a number of steps designed to ease the situation; these include tightening position controls and reducing expenses. Now it appears necessary to eliminate select temporary positions.
“We will make these moves as humanely as possible,” Jacobs said of the layoffs. Notifications will begin this week.
He also announced that funding from all empty positions now will be centralized and require justification and administrative approval in order to begin the hiring process.
Moving forward, Jacobs said each budgetary area within the University will be asked to consider FY10 budget scenarios with reductions of 7 percent and 15 percent.
Jacobs also told Finance Committee members that if the University lays off more than 50 people in any one business unit, it will be required to offer an early retirement plan. He noted that funding such a plan out of the FY09 budget may be best because the FY10 and FY11 budgets are expected to be much worse.
“We must remain focused and continue working on our strategic plan,” Jacobs said. “If we do that, I am confident we will emerge an even stronger University.”
Dr. Scott Scarborough, senior vice president for finance, then walked the committee through a PowerPoint presentation given earlier this month by the Ohio Office of Budget and Management that projects a $4.7 billion budget deficit across the state’s 2010 and 2011 fiscal year budgets due to the erosion of revenues and tax losses of historic proportions.
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