Governor's budget plan has College reducing costs by $3 million
Governor Timothy M. Kaine released a plan Monday
to reduce state spending by about $300 million across the
Commonwealth—including $3 million at William and Mary—in an effort to
make up a $641 million revenue shortfall this biennium. 
The $3 million in cuts at the College amounts to a reduction in state
support of 6.25 percent for the current year, William and Mary
President Gene R. Nichol said in an e-mail Monday night to faculty,
staff and students. The amount is lower than Kaine’s initial proposal,
which in August called for the College’s budget to be reduced by 7.5
percent.
“While our target continues to move in a congenial direction—it has now
fallen one and a quarter percent from the initially discussed 7.5
percent—it is not the much smaller and less painful request for which
we’ve hoped,” Nichol said.
Nichol added, “There is no doubt that a three-million-dollar cut will
hurt. We will carefully examine new hiring and other significant
expenditures; however, we can say with confidence that layoffs will not
be part of our response.”
Last month, the College submitted a tentative reduction plan for 7.5
percent, or $3.6 million. College officials will now begin to revise
that plan for the lower target of 6.25 percent, said Sam Jones, vice
president for finance. While that review process is under way, Jones
said, the College would continue a soft hiring freeze. Jones added that
it is unclear at this time if the current reductions will become
permanent cuts to the College’s base budget for the 2008-10 biennium.
If that is the case, he said, the College will address that in its
budget recommendations to the Board of Visitors this spring.
Nichol said the College’s response to the current cuts would continue on two fronts:
“First, my colleagues and I will strenuously make the case for supporting higher education—especially as the governor plans his budget for the next biennium and as we move toward the 2008 General Assembly session,” Nichol wrote in his campus message. “And second, we will consult with the vice presidents, deans, and the Faculty University Priorities Committee to make cuts that least affect our core academic mission.”
