As it responds to state budget reductions, UC Davis will establish new guidelines to protect staff while acknowledging that cost-cutting measures are likely to be felt all over campus.

That was the message from a panel of campus administrators to some 150 employees who gathered Feb. 7 at a Staff Assembly budget forum in MUII. Panelists included Dennis Shimek, associate vice chancellor for human resources; Kelly Ratliff, assistant vice chancellor for budget resource management; Michael Allred, associate vice chancellor for accounting and financial services; and Robert Loessberg-Zahl, assistant executive vice chancellor. Staff Assembly chair Zack O’Donnell hosted the brown bag event.

Budget developments for 2003-04 are moving deliberately but in a timely manner. One issue is voluntary time reductions — they may go into effect as early as March 1, according to Shimek. The campus implemented a similar policy in the early 1990s when faced with budget cutbacks. Basically, the program allows staff to reduce their working hours and thus salary while retaining their benefits.

“The Office of the President recently approved voluntary time reductions, and since then we’ve been working out the details,” said Shimek, who expects to formally announce the new policy this month. The retirement formula would be based on annual salaries, not the reduced salaries, he said.

Program reductions are expected, though new recruitment programs will help mitigate the full impact. On Feb. 1, Shimek announced that the campus will immediately follow new guidelines including:

• Internal recruitment for all staff positions;

• Internal/external recruitment when there is a high likelihood that internal pools may not be sufficiently diverse. However, internal applicants will be given first consideration; and

• External recruitment when internal pools are inadequate due to specialized skills, competencies, licensure, and/or certification requirements. 

“This will allow current campus employees’ applications to be forwarded to departments and considered prior to the release of the external applicants,” Shimek said. “This recruitment process also provides an opportunity for our employees to gain upward mobility.”

Shimek said the campus is considering providing specialized training for laid-off employees who might need it to fill a new job. And Loessberg-Zahl said the budget advisory committee formed by Provost Virginia Hinshaw continues to meet on the 2003-04 budget. “Staff will have a voice in the budget plan, and they will have an opportunity to review, comment upon and shape the process,” Loessberg-Zahl added.

Ratliff suggested that people check the budget Web site at http://www.news.ucdavis. edu/budget/ for the latest news and updates.

One of the difficulties in determining the campus’s budget is the uncertainty behind state funding. The Governor’s Office released a proposed state budget more than a month ago, yet a final version may not be adopted until summer — or later. Ratliff said the campus will plan its forthcoming budget based on the Governor’s proposed budget. The campus cannot wait until a later date for developing budget priorities.

O’Donnell said the unresolved state budget leaves staff members “hanging out there in the fog. It’s important to know which direction UC Davis will take on its budget.”

Another hot topic these days is a possible Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program or VERIP. These were implemented as well in the early 1990s.

“There is no VERIP plan that has been approved by the University of California,” said Shimek. “It has been discussed but it’s very unlikely.”

Shimek also said across-the-board pay cuts have also been explored, but no decision has been made.

When asked by an audience member how the campus can afford to spend $25 million on a proposed BioSafety Level 4 lab, Loessberg-Zahl said that those funds would come from research generated in the lab. The National Institutes for Health would fund the facility with a $150 million grant, with the $50 million difference anticipated to be made up with state and university resources.

The panelists also indicated that no budget cutbacks would threaten safety training for employees, and that it is still too early to specify programs that may be reduced or eliminated, except for some outreach programs already announced.  Deans and vice chancellors will lead the way in prioritizing programs, Ratliff said.