Latest budget cuts by state won't affect Southeast

Southeast Missouri State University students won't be hit with a midyear tuition increase -- at least for now -- because the school and other public colleges in the state have been spared from the latest spending cuts announced Thursday by Gov. Bob Holden's administration.

School officials and students were elated.

"It helps a lot," said Christina McCulley, a sophomore from Jackson who is paying her way through college and is tired of ever-rising tuition costs. "It starts adding up after a while."

Further tuition increases could occur if state funding is slashed over the next six months under a plan approved by the university's Board of Regents three weeks ago.

Announcing the cuts at the state Capitol, state budget director Linda Luebbering said 870 positions in state government would be eliminated and $67.1 million would be cut from planned spending for fiscal year 2003 because of sluggish tax revenue. The fiscal year ends June 30.

Most of the positions eliminated Thursday already are vacant. Ninety-six of Missouri's 65,000 state employees are being laid off, but some have already found new work within state government.

Included in the cuts is the elimination of 550 already vacant positions in the state Department of Corrections, where prison guards have complained for some time about the long hours caused by staffing shortages. Luebbering said eliminating the positions shouldn't hurt the prison system.

Another 88 positions are being eliminated in the state Department of Public Safety, including 48 resulting from layoffs -- most at a Nevada, Mo., boot camp for troubled youths that is being closed. Another 86 positions will be cut from the Department of Mental health, including 18 from layoffs.

The Department of Health and Senior Services is losing 66 positions, including 23 layoffs, some of which already have taken effect.

The state's largest agency, the Department of Social Services, is losing $11 million but no employee positions. The department oversees everything from the state's welfare and foster care systems to the state's Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled.

The $67.1 million in cuts are on top of a traditional 3 percent budget withholding made annually so that the state has money in reserve. If that is included, the total amount of appropriations withheld for this fiscal year comes to $124.4 million.

Anticipating the worst

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's president, had feared the university would be cut anywhere from $2 million to $4.1 million on top of earlier budget cuts totaling more than $12 million over the past year and a half. Those figures don't include the normal 3 percent annual withholding by the state.

"It was a very pleasant surprise," Dobbins said Thursday.

The Board of Regents voted on Dec. 13 to increase tuition by as much as $8 a credit hour for graduate and undergraduate students for the spring and summer semesters, if necessary, to make up for then-expected cuts in state funding. The vote was 4-1, with Regent Kim Mothershead of Benton, Mo., voting against the plan. She said she didn't want students -- already paying $140 to $289 a credit hour for classes -- to have to pay more. Tuition varies depending on whether students are taking undergraduate or graduate classes and whether they are Missouri residents or are from out of state.

Under the budget-balancing plan crafted by Dobbins' administration and approved by the regents, the university would first use $1 million -- raised largely from a surcharge of $6 per credit hour imposed last year -- and $750,000 in added revenue from increased enrollment.

If funding cuts were more than $1.75 million, the university would make up the shortfall from a new tuition surcharge, the school's rainy day fund and more spending cuts.

While school officials are thrilled to escape the budget ax this time, Dobbins said the university won't be rushing to spend all the money.

That's because further state funding cuts could occur before June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The cuts announced Thursday cover barely one-fifth of Missouri's projected revenue shortfall of $300 million over the next six months.

Budget officials said they were hoping to cover much of the rest by selling bonds secured against the state's future revenues from a national settlement with big tobacco companies.

If that doesn't happen or state revenues worsen, more budget cuts will be necessary, officials said.

Quentin Wilson, commissioner of higher education in Missouri, warned that state colleges and universities could face further spending cuts. But he said it's important for the state to continue to spend money on higher education even in tough economic times. "We are an engine of economic growth," Wilson said.

While colleges and universities avoided the latest funding cuts, the Missouri Department of Higher Education was cut $230,865 and a vacant position was eliminated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

BREAKDOWN OF BUDGET CUTS

Total budget cuts, positions eliminated and layoffs announced Thursday by the Missouri budget office:

Elementary and secondary education: $2.6 million, three positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Higher education: $230,865, one position eliminated, no layoffs.

Department of Revenue: $1.1 million, 19 positions eliminated, including three layoffs.

Department of Transportation: $914,560, one position eliminated, no layoffs.

Office of Administration: $2.8 million, 19 positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Department of Agriculture: $2 million, seven positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Department of Natural Resources: $2.3 million, four positions eliminated, including two layoffs.

Department of Economic Development: $2.7 million, 11 positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Labor and Industrial Relations: $311,559, 15 positions eliminated, including two layoffs.

Department of Public Safety: $3.6 million, 88 positions eliminated, including 48 layoffs.

Department of Corrections: $6.4 million, 550 positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Department of Mental Health: $20.2 million, 86 positions eliminated, including 18 layoffs.

Department of Health and Senior Services: $4.5 million, 66 positions eliminated, including 23 layoffs.

Department of Social Services: $17.1 million, no positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Elected officials: $359,590, no positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Judiciary: no withholdings, no positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Public defender: no withholdings, no positions eliminated, no layoffs.

General Assembly: no withholdings, no positions eliminated, no layoffs.

Total withholdings: $67.1 million

Total positions eliminated: 870

Total layoffs: 96

SOURCES: State budget office, AP