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Eastern Ad-Hoc Budget Committee
Minutes
August 24, 2009
Connecticut Room, Gelsi-Young Hall

 

Attendance: Dave Bachand, Patricia Banach, Karyl Bulmer, Dennis Hannon, Drew Hyatt, Kristin Jacobi, Diane Moore, William Newell, Elsa Nunez, Dimitrios Pachis, Michael Pernal, William Salka, John Sweeney

Absent: Grace Enggas, Pat Christadore, Douglas Lussier, David Mariasi, Bruce Tyler

Meeting commenced at 2:00 pm

Motion to accept the minutes of the previous meeting (D. Bachand, W. Salka - Passed)

State Budget Update

  • Pennsylvania and Connecticut are the only two states without a budget
  • Potential cuts could include:
  • o The state’s share of fringe benefits
  • o The state could raid CSU’s & other higher education institutes’ cash reserves
  • o Our allocation could be cut to FY2009 levels
  • The Governor is proposing a cut of 10-15% for Connecticut Aid to Public College Students (CAPSC). We should be able to cover this cut through the Spring melt and other aid.
  • Until the budget is settled, the Bond Commission has a limited agenda and is holding back on releasing money. This impacts the server room and the new softball field. When construction begins on the new parking garage, the team will lose their field and will be using the Windham Middle School’s field for their practices and all games will be away.
  • By the end of September, the state could have a cash crisis and will have to borrow money. Eastern may not receive its allotment in September.

Savings Update

  • Ideas adopted from the Work-$mart Program will be presented at the University Meeting on Friday, August 28.
  • AVP Sweeney shared a handout highlighting the Positive results of FY 2009 revenue and expenses and the Areas of Concern. The handout showed how the Positives outweighed the Areas of Concern. The largest increases in revenue were due to the increase in housing and food revenue.

Budget Process

  • The departmental budget requests were sent out electronically. Departments will not be penalized for not spending all of last fiscal year’s budget allocation. The budgets will also not be reduced by the office supplies savings achieved last year.

Proposed CSU Distribution & Debt Service Changes

  • CSU is proposing to cover 20 % of the total of self-financed debt plus a credit for previous debt payments. This will increase our FY 2010 allocation by $1, 149,727. The proposed funding will continue until FY 2034 when the South Residential Village is fully paid off.

Fall Enrollment and Housing

  • Housing is at full capacity. We have about 60 students and 2 resident assistants located at the Best Western for the semester.

Part-time enrollment is down by 14.72%, but full-time enrollment is up by 5.42%.

  • Our goal is to achieve equilibrium between enrollment and graduation by bringing down the size of incoming freshmen and increasing the amount of upperclassmen through retention and on-time graduation.

Preparation for H1N1

  • A committee of 10 members was appointed in April. They will be meeting weekly.
  • The Coast Guard Academy was hit hard this year by the flu, so hopefully we can learn from their experience.
  • Dr. Jeanette will give a presentation at the University Meeting. There is also a link on Eastern’s homepage – Flu Watch.
  • VP Hannon will speak with Chartwell’s to make sure that they are prepared.

Other Items

  • Eastern applied for the TEACH grant. Students will be counseled about the stipulation of the money being owed back to the grant the day a student decides they no longer want to be a teacher.


Next meeting will be Monday, September 21 at 2:00 in the Connecticut Room, Gelsi-Young Hall

Meeting adjourned at 3:40 pm

Respectfully submitted,

 

Karyl Bulmer, Assistant Bursar for Student Accounts