FORT COLLINS — Colorado State University Interim President Tony Frank is ordering budget cuts that are likely to lead to layoffs at Larimer County’s largest employer.
Frank said Friday he is ordering a 3 percent average cut to academic departments and a 6 percent average cut to administrative groups as the university plans for an expected $13.1 million budget shortfall.
In a message sent to the campus community Friday, Frank said he expects layoffs to amount to less than 1 percent of the university’s permanent, non-faculty workforce, depending on attrition and normal turnover.
CSU has about 5,690 workers, including professors, administrative assistants, maintenance workers and police officers.
“We’re hoping that a good fraction of these layoffs will be handled through what would be considered normal turnover,” said interim CSU Provost and Executive Vice President Rick Miranda. “It would not surprise me at all that attrition is a major component of this exercise, but I can’t tell you it’s going to be able to be solved entirely through attrition.”
Miranda said he was reluctant to offer a specific number for layoffs, but said it would likely be less than 50 positions.
No furloughs are planned in fiscal 2009.
The expected budget shortfall includes $6.7 million that the school has been asked to return to the state’s general fund. It also includes $6.35 million in expected declines in interest earnings on cash deposited with the state treasury, increased benefit costs and slight declines in nonresident enrollment.
Frank said a $1.5 million cut in administrative positions he made when he took over for Larry Penley, who resigned in November, has helped reduce the amount of new cuts. CSU is also pulling $2.6 million from reserves and drawing on $500,000 from stock holdings.
The CSU system had a budget of about $880 million in fiscal 2008.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
