York’s budget will be cut consistently over the next four years, which will likely result in cutbacks to services on campus and faculty.
The budget cuts will affect the entire university, including both academic and non-academic divisions.
Gary Brewer, vp finance and administration, says at this time it is hard to determine where these specific cuts will be made, but that they will put a strain on the entire university.
“They will be applied to various divisions — academic and non-academic — and the university actually has a fairly decentralized budget approach,” says Brewer.
“We will have to look at some of the services people put forward, and reevaluate them,” he explains. “So it may take longer to get a check processed or a little bit longer to deal with some of the other service area in the university, such as cleaning the university.”
Announced during the Board of Governors meeting on June 24, York will see budget cuts of 3.5 per cent for three years followed by a 2 per cent budget cut after that.
Brewer says the budget cuts are a reflection of current financial times.
“Sometimes the budget cuts are one per cent and in more recent years, they got up to 3.5 per cent,” he explains.
Approximately three quarters of the budget is allocated to salaries for faculty and staff, which could also end up being cut as a result of the new budget.
While tuition covers part of the revenue, the majority of the university’s funding comes from government grants. In the next three years, the university will face a deficit of $12.8 million, and the budget attempts to bring York out of this hole in the next four years.
“If you look at our overall budget, which is $800 million, by the time you hit 2016-17, we might have a surplus of $600,000, which essentially means we would have a balanced budget by then,” says Brewer.
York uses a multi-year budgeting model. Every year, a budget is created for the next four years and is updated accordingly, taking into account new financial realities.
Brewer says the economic situation currently affecting the government is impacting the amount of funding York will receive in the future. He doesn’t foresee much relief coming from the government.
“The majority of our funding comes from government grants and tuition fees, which will form the primary income for the operating budget of the university,” say Brewer. “So it’s really hard to tell where the future will see us, but I would like to see an environment where we don’t have to see any budget cuts.”
Hamid Adem
News Editor
