Budget and Planning

Nov. 11

Temporary layoff/furlough details available

Details are available for the temporary layoff/furlough plan that applies to faculty, P&S staff, and supervisory and confidential staff. See Inside story | Program documentation and FAQ.

Nov. 11

Guidelines for partial shutdown over semester break

University leaders are encouraging units to consider participating in a partial shutdown of the university from Dec. 24, 2009, to Jan. 3, 2010. The shutdown, which is not mandatory, would allow some employees to use temporary layoff/furloughs at a time when classes aren't meeting. See Inside story | VP Warren Madden's letter to administrators.

Nov. 5

More temporary layoff/furlough details soon

The portion of temporary layoff/furlough plan that applies to faculty, P&S staff, and supervisory and confidential staff, is nearing completion, and officials hope to release more details and a Q&A next week. See story.

Nov. 5

Retirement incentive looks familiar

The new retirement incentive option, dubbed RIO2, is similar to last year's program, although the eligibility age has been lowered. See story | Q&A (pdf).

Nov. 5

Temporary benefits reduction

The university's contribution to employees' TIAA-CREF or VALIC retirement accounts will be reduced by 20 percent for eight months. See story | Q&A (pdf).

Oct. 29

Regents approve budget reversion plan

Employees, students and university units likely will share the burden of a mid-year reduction of $24.5 million in state funding under a plan approved by the state Board of Regents Oct. 29.
> Inside Iowa State story
> Geoffroy's presentation to the board (PDF)

Oct. 29

Letter to employees on reduction plan

Geoffroy

In an Oct. 29 e-mail, President Geoffroy thanks the campus community for input on budget reductions and outlines plans for handling a mid-year cut in state funding.

Oct. 28

Survey illustrates P&S budget opinions

A staff survey shows that Professional and Scientific employees favor furloughs to position eliminations or smaller retirement contributions to meet a mid-year budget reversion. The survey was conducted by the P&S Council Executive Committee Oct. 22-23. The survey results were passed on to President Gregory Geoffroy and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman.
See story | survey summary (PDF).

Oct. 15

President seeks input

In an Oct. 15 e-mail, President Geoffroy encourages faculty and staff to send suggestions for cost savings or budget reduction strategies to dpartment chairs, deans and other unit leaders.

Oct. 14

Board president suggests options for meeting mid-year reversion

In a special meeting Oct. 14, State Board of Regents president David Miles outlined options Iowa State leaders might consider in developing a plan to cut $24.5 million from this year's budget. Those options include:

• Temporary salary reductions (and consider whether any proposed reductions should be less for lower-income workers)
• Temporary layoffs, including furloughs, to reduce the number of permanent layoffs required and preserve jobs
• Benefit revisions, including temporary reductions to retirement contributions, or temporary or permanent revisions to other benefit programs
• A "very modest" tuition surcharge for spring semester 2010 (one-time and not a permanent addition to the tuition base)
• Postpone non-essential deferred maintenance and repairs
• Consider where to refocus efforts in a significant way and/or potentially eliminate programs
• Permanent layoffs -- as a last measure if other measures can't completely close the gap, or where it makes sense for the future of an institution

Where to send your ideas

Send your ideas on reducing the budget to: budgetcomments@iastate.edu. President Geoffroy, Provost Hoffman and others on the University Budget Advisory Committee will review them.

President's budget messages

• Letters to faculty and staff
• Sept. 2009: Convocation
• Mar. 2009: Remarks to legislative subcommittee