State budget includes pay raises, dental sciences support

Last week, the House and Senate forwarded to Gov. Mike Easley a $21.4 billion budget for the 2008–09 fiscal year that provided money for faculty and staff salary increases and funding for several key University projects. It also included cuts to the UNC system for operating expenses.

Under the proposed budget, SPA employees (those subject to the State Personnel Act) would see the larger of either a 2.75 percent raise or $1,100. A pool of money equal to a 3 percent raise would be appropriated for faculty and other EPA employees (those exempt from the act), although as in previous years, deans and supervisors have discretion to offer higher or lower raises based on performance or market condition.

When the budget bill is signed, UNC administrators will need to wait for final instructions from the Office of State Personnel for SPA increases and UNC General Administration for EPA faculty and non-faculty increases before they can begin working with the human resources and payroll systems and various campus units to implement the raises.

Good news for campus construction projects included approval of the entire $69 million needed to build the 216,000-square-foot Dental Sciences Building.

The new facility would add instructional, research and academic support space for the School of Dentistry and allow the school to expand its class size to 100. In addition to research facilities, plans call for a new lecture hall, a patient simulation laboratory, and seminar and case study rooms.

Dean John N. Williams said the buildng would enhance the school’s ability to educate dental practitioners and researchers and create beneficial health discoveries.

“Our state leaders have demonstrated a tremendous commitment to dentistry and its ability to sustain and improve oral health. We are grateful for their generous support,” he said.

The building also would help the school recruit top faculty, enhance economic development through entrepreneurship and expand dental educational opportunities, Williams said.

In support of the University’s sustainability initiatives, plans for the new facility call for meeting the silver requirements established by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Other capital projects
Funding for other key capital projects included $11.5 million of the $16.9 million requested for planning and infrastructure to relocate the School of Law to a new building at Carolina North.

This funding would actually provide a shared infrastructure for the law school and the Innovation Center business accelerator that University leaders have identified as the first building for Carolina North, said Dwayne Pinkney, special assistant to the chancellor for state government relations and assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration.

“It is significant that the General Assembly appropriated funds for the Carolina North infrastructure, because it acknowledges that there will likely be future development at Carolina North and that we should plan for that development in a holistic way,” he said.

State lawmakers also approved $35 million for the Biomedical Research Imaging Center in 2008–09, with $220 million in general funds appropriated over the next biennium for full construction.

In making this dual commitment, legislators established a general statute set to expire if debt financing is authorized by June 30, 2009.

Other funding
In keeping with legislation passed during the last session that made enrollment growth part of the continuation budget, lawmakers fully funded the UNC system’s $34.6 million request for enrollment growth.

But the budget also mandated reductions across the UNC system totaling $16 million, down from the House’s proposed $18.5 million in cuts, Pinkney said. “The Board of Governors and UNC President Erskine Bowles will decide how to allocate those cuts, so we don’t know yet how our campus will be affected,” he said.

The endowment fund for distinguished professorships received $4.6 million in non-recurring funds, and the UNC system’s faculty recruitment and retention fund received $3 million. “This fund has been very important in helping us recruit and retain top faculty at Carolina,” Pinkney said.

An unexpected — and unsolicited — $1.8 million appropriation in non-recurring funding would seed planned renovations to the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. 

“Overall, it was a very good session, especially given what we faced with state revenue,” Pinkney said.