Chancellor defies governor’s request

Chancellor Jim Rogers said Wednesday that he will refuse Gov. Jim Gibbons' request for the university system to come up with a plan to save money.

Rogers said he does not think the system will be forced by Gibbons to slice 5 percent, or $64 million, from its budget, as the governor has requested.

And he said he will not create a plan to do that.

"I don't think that'll happen," he said. "I think that this is no time to panic."

Prompted by concerns that the state's revenue will not meet expectations, Gibbons has asked the Nevada System of Higher Education and the Department of Health and Human Services to come up with plans to reduce spending.

Despite Rogers' efforts to soothe fears among higher education officials, some university and college officials were worried.

The proposed cuts come at a bad time for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which already is planning for shortfalls and is asking each of its departments to cut budgets for next year by 2 percent to 4.5 percent.

An additional 5 percent, as requested by the governor, would be "a huge cut," UNLV President David Ashley said. "We've not had time to plan for it in any real way."

The university could be asked to find $9.9 million to be cut out of its budget this year and $10.2 million next year, said UNLV Vice President for Finance and Facilities Planning Gerry Bomotti.

"Clearly there's a concern, a significant one," he said.

The university system is several months into its fiscal year, and classes have started, limiting how institutions could make cuts.

But they probably would look toward cutting part-time faculty and starting hiring freezes for full-time faculty should they be forced to trim their budgets, said Vice Chancellor for Finance and Facilities Mike Reed.

"If all this were to play out ... it would be pretty severe," Reed said. "A good portion of any campus budget is personnel, and that's what you'd have to start looking at."

At Nevada State College, officials said they probably would not fill 13 open positions should the budget cuts be carried out.

Bomotti said UNLV would look toward minimizing the effect on students and probably would eliminate nonessential plans, such as upgrading technology in university classrooms.

Patty Dayar, College of Southern Nevada's vice president of finance and budget, said the college could not afford to cut back on part-time instructors, who make up 48 percent of its teaching staff.

"They're our bread and butter," she said. "We are so dependent on that work force just to make ends meet."

Instead, the college would focus on improving efficiency, such as combining classes, shutting off buildings during the summer and eliminating travel expenses between the campuses for administrators, she said.

The College of Southern Nevada saw an unexpected spike in enrollment this semester, but Nevada State College did not meet its enrollment expectations this year, and most other institutions are facing flat or declining enrollment numbers.

The institutions receive the bulk of their money from the Legislature, which funds them based partly on the number of students each college enrolls and on student fees.

Gibbons has asked the higher education system to present a plan in two weeks to reduce spending, but Rogers flatly said he would not.

"We don't have a plan," Rogers said. "You just can't say to somebody, 'You've got ten dollars today, how would you do with seven?'"

He said he suggested to Gibbons that he call a special session of the Legislature to raise taxes to cover the shortfall, but the governor refused the idea.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.