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.