Budget message from VP Dooley

Colleagues,

In his State of the State address on Monday, Governor Brown reinforced the fact that our budget difficulties are unprecedented and that virtually everything that depends on state funding must adapt to new realities. 

While many things must happen before we have a final state budget, here are some things we do know:

• The governor’s budget proposes a $500 million cut for UC in 2011-12, a 16.4 percent reduction.  State budget cuts could be deeper if proposed tax extensions fail because the cuts cover only half of the shortfall in state revenues.

• UC’s budget gap is really closer to $1 billion, when factoring in state General Fund reductions and unfunded cost increases for expenses such as health benefits, utilities, and UC contributions to the retirement system.

• The governor is attempting to create an honest budget with no borrowing. The resulting budget isn’t favorable to UC, ANR, or any other program that depends on state funds. We expect to share in the pain with hope for sharing the gain when the economy improves.

• County governments have suffered severe budget cuts. We are working closely with our county partners to minimize the long-term damage to the services Cooperative Extension provides to their communities and devotes the largest portion of our scarce resources to program delivery as possible.

• As you know, ANR has consolidated a considerable amount of administrative work over the past year for cost savings and we will continue to look for administrative efficiencies where possible.

• President Yudof has launched an immediate review, due in early March, of what the proposed cuts will mean at each campus, for ANR and at the Office of the President.  I will keep you apprised as the budget picture becomes clearer.

I appreciate your dedication, especially during these tough times, to keeping California healthy, prosperous and sustainable. Let’s continue to remind Californians of the unique ways ANR contributes to the improvement of agriculture, natural resources and the lives of the youth and families of our state.

Dan Dooley
Senior Vice President

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