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Fred Cheney
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"How does it affect me?"
"What does it mean for Mount Royal University?"
Those are the questions on the minds of most employees following the frugal theme in the Province of Alberta's recently released budget.
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President Dave Marshall and Richard Roberts vice-president, administrative serviceswere positive in their presentation of how the recent provincial budget affects Mount Royal. |
At Mount Royal’s Budget Town Hall on Feb. 10 in the Ross Glen Hall at the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning, Mount Royal President Dave Marshall and Richard Roberts, vice-president, administrative services, provided a framework of how the executive plans to move forward with Mount Royal’s two year budget process, 2010/11 and 2011/12, given the provincial government funding announcements.
“The Minister announced that the base funding for post-secondary institutions in 2010/11 will be the same as it was in 2009/10,” says Marshall.
“So from the big picture perspective that’s good news considering cutbacks to other ministries.”
Similar to 2009/10, the base funding for 2010/11 will remain $87.6 million. Mount Royal will also receive a one-time grant of $6 million in 2010/11 to help address degree implementation, which is less than half of the $13.2 million that was previously anticipated to cover transition and growth.
Provincial funding to be halted
No further funding will be available in 2010/11 for the planned enrolment growth in the degrees. Neither will there be a plethora of grant sources — all grants will now be rolled into a lump sum grant of $87.6 million.
As an outcome, Mount Royal will have the flexibility to adjust programs and enrolment to match this block funding grant, whereas with specific grants allocated to specific programs there would be less flexibility to creatively revise how money is allotted.
The ministry’s budget for Capital funding was reduced from 2009/10; however there will be no effect on approved projects.
“Our budget challenge will be to adjust the enrolment plan based on the 2010/11 funding with the assumption that the grant will stay the same for 2011/12 as the government tries to reduce their deficit,” says Marshall.
How we'll address the shortfall
“Our challenge now is to address the shortfall created over the next two years, as costs continue to increase and revenue is flat, by developing a two year, sustainable, balanced budget using the resources we have now been given.”
The development of the two year budget will involve Academic Affairs devising a revised enrolment plan based on the funding that addresses:
- Revised enrolment target for all programs (i.e. the four year enrolment target)
- Plan for the flow-through students
- Plan for fall 2010 intake
The detailed budget instructions will be developed and issued by the end of February.
The instructions will address both the revised enrolment plan and the base budget shortfall that will need to be corrected over the two years. A two-year balanced budget will be brought to the Board of Governors by the end of May 2010.
A fixed cost increase of 3% forecasted over the next two years means departments and faculties should be prepared to trim back where possible. But Roberts does not anticipate that slimming down will translate into an overall reduction to the number of current employees.
Layoffs the last line of defence
“To reinforce what was said at the previous Budget Town Hall last October, we’ll make every effort in the budget process to avoid layoffs,” says Roberts.
“If position eliminations are required we will look to vacant positions first. In aggregate we’re not expecting that there will be any significant change to the number of people currently employed, but future hiring will be very limited. There of course could be personnel changes at a detailed level as budget units reallocate resources to meet priorities.”
“At the end of the day it’s really about student success and satisfaction,” says Roberts. “So that will continue to be the priority focus for changes in budget allocation and reallocation decisions.”
Roberts points out that the $5 million base reserve fund that Mount Royal has saved over the past five years will be combined with the $6 million one-time government grant to help Mount Royal through budget challenges over the next two years.
Marshall summarizes that the budget will impact Mount Royal employees in two ways. “Really the only impact will be a reduction to departmental budgets due to the fixed-cost increases and the fact that there won’t be any growth money over the next couple of years. Those are the only things at ground level that people will feel.”
“I want you to leave today with a good feeling,” says Marshall.
“This is a complex exercise, but it’s not a bad exercise. We will find an enrolment program pattern that is fully sustainable at the grant level that we have where we can deliver the quality programming that we are committed to deliver. And that’s our goal — to do the hard work now so that we will have firm plans for the next few years.
“So see the cup as half full and remember the effect at your desk is relatively minimal as it moves through the budget process.”
— Jondrea De Ruyter, Feb. 11, 2010
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 6K6
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