UH administration presents supplemental budget request to Senate Ways and Means and House Finance Committees

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Carolyn Tanaka, (808) 956-9803
Mia Noguchi, (808) 956-9095
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: Jan 12, 2006

HONOLULU — Administrators from the University of Hawaiʻi System and chancellors of the university‘s ten campuses statewide presented their respective operating budget requests and the system‘s capital improvement budget request at a joint hearing of the Senate Ways and Means and House Finance Committees today at the State Capitol.

Highlights of the university‘s requests include:

Capital Improvement Budget
· $88.4 million to address deferred maintenance;
· $4.5 million for infrastructure improvements;
· $12.7 million for health, safety and code requirements;
· $187 million for continuing and initiating facilities projects on several campuses; and
· $33.5 million for UH West Oʻahu design and infrastructure construction

Operating Budget
The university is requesting some $35 million in continuing funding, including the following items:
· Over $6 million at UH Hilo, including $1.4 million to help establish a College of Pharmacy, $1 million for Native Hawaiian initiatives, and significant increases in student support funding.
· $700,000 for UH West Oʻahu, half of which is for elementary education positions, with most of the balance for student support.
· Nearly $11 million at the community colleges, including $1.7 million for program review and assessment, $2 million for workforce development initiatives, nearly $1 million for programs for Native Hawaiians, and $2.2 million to relieve UH Hilo of the financial burden of supporting Hawaiʻi Community College activities.
· $9 million at UH Mānoa including nearly $1 million for increased student support, some $2 million for revitalization of the arts and sciences, engineering, creative media, social work and tropical agriculture faculty and curricula; nearly $1 million for workforce development in nursing; and $1.4 million for Native Hawaiian programs.
· In addition to the above, nearly $7 million across all campuses for electricity increases ($4.3 million at Mānoa, $200,000 at UH Hilo, and $2.4 million at the community colleges).
· Restoration of 18 positions at Mānoa, and 14 positions at the System, of the 207.5 positions that were swept last year by the Legislature, and conversion to permanent status of 38 positions in information technology that have been temporary for a number of years.

"Our supplemental budget request reflects our assessment of the university‘s needs to create an attractive and safe physical environment for our students, engage our students more directly, and support and renew our excellent faculty, and it grows out of the elaborate ʻstocktaking‘ process university administrators used to develop our biennium budget request," said UH Interim President David McClain.

"We believe the Board of Regents-approved Supplemental Budget request represents a prudent but necessary response to the needs of our students and their families for quality academic programs taught in quality facilities by our excellent faculty, and to the needs of the State of Hawaiʻi for workforce development," he continued.

In requesting this funding, the university‘s recommendations continue to target biennium budget priorities, including serving Native Hawaiians, enhancing security on all campuses, and expanding workforce development. The projected increase in utilities reflects the recent and dramatic spike in energy prices.President McClain's testimony can be downloaded at:
http://www.hawaii.edu/offices/eaur/govrel/briefings/2006/overview_wam_fin_briefing_011206.pdf.

For more information, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/offices/eaur/govrel/briefings/2006/index.html