University News
President Al Goldfarb's Letter Regarding FY2006 Budget
June 20, 2005
Dear Campus Community,
As you are already aware, the Legislature and the Governor reached agreement on the FY06 budget which provides the same level of state operational funding for Western Illinois University that was received by the University in the current fiscal year. As of this writing we are hopeful some capital funds will be allocated for the planning of our expansion of the Quad Cities Riverfront campus, and we will continue to seek the release of the planning dollars for the Performing Arts Center on the Macomb campus.
Through our strategic plan Higher Values in Higher Education we continue to stress the values of the institution. We are able to implement this plan through the outstanding efforts of our faculty, staff and administrators. Our financial priorities for FY06 will be to support the strategic plan by funding our instructional programs and salary increases. Effective July 1, 2005, a 3.5 percent pay increase will be awarded to our non-negotiated employees. Non-civil service employees will be notified of their increases via a direct e-mail, similar to last year. Civil service supervisors and eligible civil service employees will receive a memo. Employees represented by collective bargaining units shall receive increases in accordance with their respective agreements.
A 3.5 percent salary increase requires a $2.8 million budgetary commitment. As we did in FY05, it would be fiscally prudent for us to enter FY06 with a reserve of approximately 2 percent ($1.1 million) for emergencies. Should there be no emergencies, we will return these funds near the end of the fiscal year for top priorities identified by each vice presidential area, in the same fashion as last spring.
Again, I am very thankful for the budgetary support we received from all of our legislators and from the Governors office in these difficult economic times. I look forward to us making continued progress on our strategic plan in Macomb and the Quad Cities. And as always, I appreciate all of the support I have received from the campus community during these challenging budgetary times.
Sincerely,
Al Goldfarb, President
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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