University of Missouri makes plan to cover budget gap

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri's Columbia campus will cover a $17 million gap between budgeted spending and available revenue with the help of the medical school and campus operations.

The university released figures outlining how unrestricted reserve funds could make up for lost state revenue withheld in January by Gov. Eric Greitens, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

Interim chancellor Hank Foley at a faculty meeting announced a formula under which each unit on campus will be taxed based on its ability to carry additional financial burdens.

The School of Medicine and campus operations are the two biggest contributors, with the medical school providing $3.1 million and campus operations providing $1.65 million.

Foley said the plan addresses only the shortfall in the budget year ending June 30.

The next fiscal year's gap is expected to grow to as much as $50 million and will be covered by cuts and continuing to draw down reserves.

Foley created the Resource Allocation Model Committee and the Capital Financing Advisory Committee to address the ongoing financial issues.

Each committee consists of four faculty members, two staff employees, three students and three leaders nominated from campus.

"We are in this together, and we are going to have to make very difficult decisions as a group," Foley said.

The financial crunch developed as Greitens announced he was withholding more than $146 million in general-revenue appropriations to balance the state budget. Nearly $84 million of that amount was withheld from college and university budgets, leaving the University of Missouri $20 million short of its budgeted revenue.