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The University of Vermont board of trustees unanimously approved a resolution Monday during a call-in meeting that delays creating next year’s budget due to financial uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The university will extend the 2019-2020 budget that was set to expire June 30 for three months, allowing the administration to present the board a budget in September when the university has a better grasp on how the virus affects its finances.
The resolution asks President Suresh Garimella, who is forgoing his April salary as a step to help the university’s finances, to review any ongoing construction projects. Garimella makes $630,000 a year.
Ron Lumbra, the chair of the board of trustees, said in an interview that the board didn’t feel like it could approve a budget for the next year at this time.
“It is our responsibility to produce prudent financial stewards of the enterprise,” Lumbra said. “There are so many variables in higher ed at the moment, what’s happening with the summer, what’s happening with our incoming freshman class, what’s happening in the health care sector going into the summer and fall, we just don’t know.”
The university went online-only last month to limit the spread of the virus, has announced it will not be holding commencement as scheduled and is adjusting to virtual recruiting.
The university’s annual budget is around $700 million, according to the university’s website, and the board approved a budget not to exceed $125 million for the next three months.
Lumbra said the extension gives Garimella and the board more time to be thorough and thoughtful.
“We thought it was best to take a pause, to be able to study research to gain more data on what’s going on, before we set a firm budget,” he said.
The board wants Garimella to reconsider construction projects and explore other possible ways to save money, Lumbra said.
“We’re trying to be really prudent agents,” Lumbra said. “Everything should be reconsidered, nothing should be taken for granted. That’s the prudent thing to do.”
Lumbra said that he was concerned about the economic impacts of the pandemic on the university, and the 2020-2021 academic calendar remained a question mark. He said it was too early to tell if faculty and staff could see cuts.
“What we’re trying to do is not make a hasty decision that will impact the institution, our mission, our responsibility to our students, faculty and staff,” he said. “So we’re trying to take a pause right now to figure out what we’ve got before making any actions like that.”
