At least one Louisiana university is warning of drastic measures that could seriously change campus. They say it might be their only option in keeping their doors open as a result of what could soon be another round of state budget cuts.
College campuses in Louisiana have grown accustom to doing more with less, but now they could soon have to deal with a lot less.
Legislators in Baton Rouge fear an unexpected financial hole that has to be rectified by the end of the fiscal year could be in the neighborhood of $400 million. The reason, say lawmakers, is because state tax revenue is down - significantly lower, in fact, than what the state was expecting.
"The entire economy is in a recession," said Daniel D'Amico, assistant professor of economics at Loyola University. "Spending is down across the board, so maybe we were bad at realizing how low that spending would be."
According to Eyewitness News Political Analyst Clancy DuBos, health-care and education typically bear the brunt of cuts because nearly everything else in the state budget is either constitutionally or statutorily mandated.
"Our hands would be very tied in terms of what we'd be able to," said UNO Spokesperson Mike Rivault.
Rivault says what makes the potential for cuts even more unbearable is the fact they can no longer be spread out over a long period of time since there are only three more months left in the fiscal year. He said public schools like UNO are still trying to recover from previous financial hits.
According to Rivault, UNO's budget was cut about $9 million in July 2009. Then in January 2010, they had close to another $4 million taken away and based on this latest projection, Rivault estimates the budget could get slashed another $7 million, which could force the school, and other institutions like it, to essentially declare a state of financial emergency, enabling them to let-go of tenured staff and reduce academic programs.
"That'd be the last thing we want to do," said Rivault. "But it may be the only thing that we can do if this is as severe as it could be looking like it is."
Lawmakers, however, say other possibilities remain on the table - specifically, efforts by the state to tighten its own belt.
Representative (D) Juan LaFonta cites "layoffs, closing some state offices early, [and] some different furloughs" as examples.
The governor's office says their team is already preparing for this latest round of budget cuts.
"Right now we are pulling together all the different options to look at them to figure out what's the best route to take," said Timmy Teepell, the Governor's Chief of Staff.
The Jindal administration, however, is still sort of holding it's breath, waiting to see what the state's tax numbers look like for March. Those figures are due out this April. By then, there will only be two more months to absorb what's expected to be a multi-million dollar cost.
