The UW System will not be subject to the hiring freeze Gov. Scott McCallum is imposing on other areas of the state government, UW officials announced Tuesday. In lieu of the university hiring freeze, the System will return approximately $5 million to the state, with UW-Madison returning more than $1 million of the total.
McCallum has implemented hiring freezes for certain governmental positions due to the recent economic downturn and a projected shortfall in the state budget of anywhere from $300 million to $1.3 billion during the 2001-'03 budget cycle.
UW-Madison students will not see the effects of the spending cuts that will have to be instituted, according to Kent Barrett, university relations specialist for University Communications.
\The state said, 'Pay us the equivalent of how much money it would have saved if we'd instituted the hiring freeze on you and then you're off the hook for now,'"" he said.
UW-Madison Chancellor of Administration John Torphy said officials would ""clearly not reduce anything that deals with instruction or research.""
Kevin Boatright, assistant vice president of UW System Communications, said UW officials could still choose to raise the money by leaving certain positions vacant.
""I think it'd be based on internal priorities rather than a hard and fast hiring freeze of 'Thou shalt not hire anyone,'"" Boatright said. ""Instead what we're told is, 'The state wants X millions of dollars. How you get that money is up to you,'""
Another way university officials may choose to save money is through cutting utility expenses, Boatright said.
""I think there is an expectation that some of this is going to come from utilities' savings which may entail turning down the thermostat a little bit this winter,"" he said.
Torphy said he thought other possible areas to spending would be holding off on remodeling facilities and other kinds of maintenance projects. He said he expected officials to encourage staff members to be frugal in their purchases.
""The real issue is this is one time, right now,"" he said. ""But given the state's fiscal situation, the question is, 'Will this be ... permanent?' The governor is talking about longer term deficits.""
Boatright said he thought McCallum's decision regarding the UW System would be beneficial.
""What works for the Department of Natural Resources ... or some other part of state government may not work as well for the System institutions because of the fact that we have classes that we need teachers for,"" he said. ""The state has generally recognized that in the past.""
Torphy said he expected officials to have a better estimation of whether the state will enforce additional cuts by January or February.
