Kelly Ratliff says the recent UC budget compact with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a step toward stability.

"We should have a chance to breathe and catch up," Ratliff, the assistant vice chancellor for budget resource management, told campus community members who gathered for a special budget update Monday in the Memorial Union.

Facing 6 percent permanent reductions in general-fund expenses, UC Davis administrators will have to cut $15 million from their 2004-05 operating budgets, Ratliff said. Plans call for 25 to 30 staff members to be laid off and another 40 staff positions that are now vacant to be eliminated. On top of this, about 145 staff members are voluntarily reducing their time appointments.

Looking beyond next year, Ratliff said, the budget compact calls for annual state budget increases of 3 percent in 2005-07 and 4 percent in 2007-11. Some of that 3-4 percent may go to pay raises for faculty and staff.

Ratliff explained that state funding makes up about 42 percent of the campus's total revenue, excluding the health system. "The state is a very significant part of the pie," she said.

Ratliff noted, however, that the campus will soon launch a multi-year fund-raising campaign aimed at making UC Davis less dependent over the long run on state monies.

With the governor's budget now under consideration in the state Legislature, Ratliff said that some Democratic lawmakers are fighting to preserve UC programs like outreach and even restore some funding overall.

"If they're successful," said Ratliff, "we'll take it."

John Meyer, vice chancellor of resource management and planning, described the budget situation as both "good and bad news" for this year. One the one hand, he said, the state enjoyed an increase in tax revenues. On the other hand, state expenses also were on the upswing.

Still, he said, "It looks like the trends in the state were more positive than would be expected."

For more details about the campus budget, see http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/budget/.