This completes the general fund support for operating costs. This supports the custodial and associated facility costs for the Performing Arts Center that were not funded by the General Assembly last year. This support, coupled with existing adjunct funds, will enable approximately 22 additional tenure track faculty to be hired. Funding will support admission and retention efforts to meet the strategic plan goals of the Board of Regents and University. This is a small increase to an already inadequate building repair budget.
All amounts are incremental additions to base budgets.
You will recall that last year all tuition income had to be dedicated to meeting the shortfall in salary funding from the state. This forced reallocations to cover previous commitments. Funding this year restores those commitments. The items funded represent priorities of the strategic plan, the performance indicators presented to the Board of Regents, and the highest priorities of divisions of the university, as well as some areas of unavoidable or nondiscretionary cost increases. The total dollars requested from all areas of the campus were several times greater than the total funds projected to be available.