The Board of Trustees approved a proposal to use another $2 million from the University reserves of $85 million to help close a $5 million budget gap for fiscal 2009 and also voted on a preliminary budget proposal for fiscal 2010 in a meeting last Wednesday, according to several attendees.The Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of the proposal for another $2 million, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. The Board requested that the University repay the $2 million in fiscal 2010, which will raise a projected deficit for that fiscal year from $6.9 million to $8.9 million, French had explained last week. "The board members' consideration included the implications of moving more of the deficit into next year as weighed against the impact of a further budget reduction this year on faculty, student and staff morale and the overall disruption to University operations," French wrote in his e-mail.

The Board also voted to approve the preliminary budget for the next fiscal year, which includes a 3.9-percent increase in tuition and fees but no increase in faculty and staff salaries.

In an e-mail to the Justice, French explained that the $5 million deficit will be covered in part by a previously requested $2 million from the University reserves and a projected $1 million in bequests, gifts left behind in a will. French said at the March 12 faculty meeting that another $2 million is necessary to cover the gap completely.

Prof. Peter Conrad (SOC) told the Justice last week that some of the options under consideration for closing the budget gap for 2010 include raising parking fees, reducing the operating budget, selling University assets, staff furloughs and temporarily suspending payments into retirement funds.

The University will present a gap-closing plan for fiscal 2010 to the Board in May, French wrote. He wrote that the administration would consult with administrators on the Integrated Planning Committee, the University Budget Committee, students and faculty advisory bodies. Conrad said a decision regarding options to close the increased budget deficit for the next fiscal year would need to be reached by May.

"That was the right thing to do. We didn't have a lot of alternatives," Provost Marty Kraus said of the approval for another $2 million.