Don't fear the freeze

5/8/08

By Keith Whitcomb Jr.
Critic Editor

To make sure the budget is balanced by the end of the fiscal year, the college has taken measures to control spending.

“Effective immediately, all spending for supplies, services, travel, and equipment will be frozen until the end of the fiscal year,” Wayne Hamilton, dean of administration, said in a memo.

The freeze affects departments, such as Digital and Graphic Arts, which have not completed their purchases yet. Some members of the LSC community, who did not wish to be named, were concerned that the fees paid by students as part of lab and course fees would go to paying the college’s bills and not course supplies.

“Our first priority is to balance the budget,” Hamilton said.

“Academic departments anticipating equipment and supply purchases from course fees and lab fees should submit their requests to Dean Dalton,” Hamilton also said in the memo. “If departmental funds are currently available, purchase requests for items may be considered prior to June 30, 2008. Essential purchases relating to summer 2008 courses should be specifically identified. Departments currently without available funds in their budget will not be able to purchase items until fiscal 2009 (July 1, 2008).”

“I don’t think the message was clear when it first came out,” Sheilah Ladd, LSC Controller, said. Ladd also said that the freeze only affects the timing of a department’s purchasing.

“I respect very much that fees paid to a department should go to that department,” Hamilton said. If money comes out of a department to help pay for something else, that department will get its money back as soon as possible, Hamilton said.

“I hope that come June 30, all of this will be moot,” Hamilton said. June 30 is when the fiscal year ends.

Students looking for work at the college this summer may end up being affected in a much more direct way, however. “Direct hire of student workers is being curtailed for summer 2008. Departments that will have funding have already been notified and no additional funding is available. This does not affect students with federal CWS funding,” Hamilton said later in the memo.

The freeze comes as the result of a $500,000-$900,000 budget deficit announced by the LSC administration April 21. Many factors contributed to the deficit, including energy costs rising 50 percent. This also affects travel.

“All travel must be pre-approved by the appropriate dean. Employees should confirm approval by email prior to traveling. Faculty travel reimbursed under the professional development provision in the contract is excluded from this requirement. Employees traveling from the LSC campus should use college vehicles whenever possible,” Hamilton said in his memo.