Across-the-board reductions avoided for FY 2014
Leave a CommentThe University budget for the 2014 fiscal year likely will not require “across-the-board” reductions, newly appointed Provost Benjamin Polak said in a Thursday memo to University faculty and staff.
Fiscal year 2014 will mark the second year since the 2008 financial crisis that Yale has not implemented University-wide budget cuts. Though Polak said the budget outlook is better than in the past, he acknowledged that it is not yet “sustainable” since annual expenses remain higher than annual revenues. Polak added that the current version of the budget plan — which will be finalized later this spring — does not have the flexibility to fund the new needs and initiatives that are necessary to “keep Yale at the forefront of teaching and the advancement of knowledge.”
Polak said the 2013-’14 budget plan relies on one-time measures, including the use of reserve funds in both specific schools and departments and general University accounts.
In order to plan the budget effectively, Polak said he intends to maintain the policies that President-elect and former Provost Peter Salovey put in place last year to promote transparency, including the use of faculty leadership on the University Budget Committee.
The process and guidelines for the planning of the fiscal year 2014 budget will be similar to that of previous years, Polak said, adding that he will begin meeting with deans, directors and faculty members soon before presenting the budget to University President Richard Levin later this spring.