Capitol corner: UUP readies for budget battle

In a foreboding fiscal missive, state agencies recently were warned to economize and were ordered to hold the line in their spending requests for the 2003-04 budget year.

State Budget Director Carole Stone reportedly told the agencies by letter to control current spending and tighten their belts to deal with the “extraordinary challenges” of the existing economy.

The directive arrived as SUNY began another academic year with an underfunded budget. Modest gains to SUNY overall for the current academic year were offset by inflationary costs and other financial obligations that left most campuses in a deep fiscal hole for 2002-03.

“The shortfall is likely to be between $8 billion and $12 billion next year,” said UUP President William Scheuerman. “The rainy day fund is gone, and it’s unlikely that as many ‘one-shots’ will be available.”

“We’ll have to be even more diligent to protect our members’ jobs, access to the University and the ‘life of the mind,’” Scheuerman said.

Mindful of the dire financial backdrop, members of the Legislation and Political Action committees conferred during the 2002 Fall Delegate Assembly on a proposed legislative agenda and a political action plan.

— Lisa Feldman Reich