Series 2558: Constituent Correspondence, 2000-2003
38803
From: "J. Terrell May" <J.Terrell.May@usm.edu>
To: Governor Musgrove
Created: 11/1/2000 9:48 AM
Subject: [Fwd: eagle-mail: GOVERNOR EXEMPTS UNIVERSITIES FROM BUDGET CUTS]
Message:
Governor,
Thank you for exempting higher education from this round of budget
reductions. I thought this attached news release and its positive spin
might be of interest to you.
Thanks again.
J. Terrell May
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From: USM University Relations <usmur@usm.edu>
BC: Governor Musgrove
Created: 11/1/2000 9:19 AM
Subject: eagle-mail: GOVERNOR EXEMPTS UNIVERSITIES FROM BUDGET CUTS
Message:
NEWS USM NEWS
The University of Southern Mississippi
University Relations News Release
GOVERNOR EXEMPTS UNIVERSITIES FROM BUDGET CUTS
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has exempted higher education from $50
million in mid-year budget reductions ordered for most state
agencies because of lower-than-expected tax revenue collections.
The governor's Halloween Day decision provided a treat for
Mississippi's eight public universities, and the community and
junior colleges -- adding them to a list of governmental agencies
that will be exempted from 5 percent budget cuts.
Prior to Musgrove's announcement, Southern Miss officials were
bracing for a possible 5 percent budget cut of its general support
appropriation -- meaning the university would have had to carve some
$3.7 million from its current fiscal-year budget.
"It could have altered the state of the university for some
time," Southern Miss President Horace Fleming told reporters after
the announcement.
He also issued a statement saying: "I never doubted the
governor's commitment to education and his understanding of how
vital education is to the continued economic development of our
state. I am extremely pleased, and felt all along the governor would
do all he could to help us -- and he did."
The governor's action spared the state College Board, which
meets again Nov. 16, the anguish of having to consider proposals to
implement student tuition hikes as one possible way of helping
universities weather the storm.
Also spared from the budget cuts were Mississippi public
schools, Medicaid, the Highway Patrol, Rehabilitation Services,
emergency management, homestead exemption and debt service. Other
agencies have until Nov. 14 to decide how to handle cuts.
Pointing out that some "70 percent" of USM expenditures go
toward paying employee salaries, Fleming had vowed to protect
faculty and staff positions as much as possible had the university
been required to absorb the mid-year cut.
Speaking to a special meeting of faculty, staff and student
leaders on campus Oct. 24, the president also pledged to preserve
the quality of academic programs and student services.
Fleming and his vice presidents -- with input from the
university community -- had been devising a plan to deal with the
anticipated cuts, while pleading USM's case in Jackson. Now, he
said, operations could return to normal.
"We are going to return to our planning for next year," Fleming
said. "We have many opportunities before us and we will focus on
those."
Although Mississippi is taking in mroe tax revenues than ever
on a good economy, collections for the year are running some $20
million a month behind projections. So, the state currently is about
$80 million behind the original estimates.
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