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MUSC budget plan shared with university employees
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MUSC announced its plan Nov. 24 for dealing with an 11.9 percent cut to
its state appropriations approved by the General Assembly in late
October. This cut, the third this fiscal year, has brought the
cumulative state funding reduction to the university to $16.8 million,
or 17.6 percent of its state appropriation.
“Dealing with cuts of this magnitude has been a real challenge,” said
MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., “And it has taken a few
weeks to finalize a plan. We have been guided by a desire to preserve
jobs and to be as fair as possible to all employees, while still
providing the excellent services that so many people in our local
community and state require.”
Each unit within the university was requested to propose a budget reduction based upon its particular mission and funding base.
“Given that almost two-thirds of our expenditures go to support
personnel, there is no way to reduce our spending without impacting
employees,” said MUSC Vice President for Finance Lisa Montgomery. “We
cut travel, supplies and equipment, renovations and leases to the bare
bone, but in the end, that simply was not enough.”
The university, which employs about 5,000 people, will leave nearly 80
vacant positions unfilled. In addition, a mandatory furlough of four
days will be implemented in selected areas that are not clinically-or
research-based. Those non-clinical and non-research areas collectively
employ more than 1,200 people.
“We considered a campuswide furlough,” said MUSC Provost John Raymond,
M.D., “but since so many of our employees are paid through non-state
sources of funding, this would not be an effective strategy for saving
state dollars. Moreover, in our clinical and research areas, we cannot
slow operations and, in fact, we need to continue to generate as much
outside income as possible to offset cuts from the state.”
The furlough will begin in January, with monthly paid employees taking
unpaid leave one day per month for four months. Hourly paid employees
will have a uniform amount deducted from their pay in order to reduce
the impact, although they will be permitted to take the leave as
negotiated with their supervisors. A handful of positions are proposed
for elimination, most of which are filled by temporary employees.
“We recognize that many of our employees are living at the financial
edge, so we have asked those with higher incomes to help soften the
blow on others,” Greenberg said. “Already, about 300 employees
have expressed a desire to take either voluntary furloughs or pay cuts.
I will be taking eight days of unpaid leave myself, while continuing to
devote all of my energies to the university. Many of the other senior
administrators already have made similar commitments. The response thus
far has been inspiring.”
Overall, the plan covers the total loss of state funding to the
present, plus an additional 5 percent in anticipated cuts. While
contingency plans are in place, it is difficult to estimate the depth
of future cuts and MUSC is unable to preclude the possibility of
additional furloughs or lay-offs.
Regular updates and employee resources can be found at http://budgetimpact.musc.edu.
“It is unfortunate that any employees will be furloughed or laid off,
as this was our option of last resort,” Montgomery said. “We are
working on a plan to allow fellow employees and others to donate to a
fund in our MUSC Foundation to provide support to those employees who
need financial assistance.”
“Even though the medical university is a large organization, faculty
work very closely with support staff and we feel like a family,” said
MUSC Vice President for Medical Affairs Jerry Reves, M.D. “As in all
families, we will do our best to look out for each other and help each
other during this difficult time. We also want to emphasize that this
plan will not affect the continuous provision of quality medical care
and top-notch health education that the citizens of our state have come
to depend on.”
“We feel confident that in working together, we have done our best to
minimize the impact of these cuts to maintain the great spirit and
determination of the MUSC family to continue serving the citizens of
South Carolina,” Greenberg said.
Nov. 28, 2008
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