Friday, Aug. 16, 2002 | 11:24 a.m.
RENO -- Students at the state's universities and community colleges may find a cutback in the number of classes offered because of a $26 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, officials said Thursday.
Chancellor Jane Nichols said the University and Community College System of Nevada is facing a $15 million budget hole this fiscal year. And orders from Gov. Kenny Guinn to reduce the budgets in state agencies and the university system by 3 percent will mean another $11 million.
"This is a significant hit for the system," Nichols said. "There is no way we can protect the students from that."
On Thursday she told the Board of Regents that the system "may not be able to offer a full complement of classes in the spring semester."
Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas said he was "disappointed for the students that they may be facing limited classes."
The university and community college system was one of several state agencies asked to absorb a deficit in the state's general fund projected at $138 million this year.
"Higher education is getting hit just like every other state agency across the board," Greg Bortolin, a spokesman for Guinn said today. "It is an extremely painful cut in light of the governor's highlighted priorities (which included higher education)."
During the meeting, Sisolak had tried to hold down salaries for some of the new top administrators in the system. But he was unsuccessful.
"Some of our decisions are not fiscally prudent and are not student friendly," he said after the meeting.
Kerri Hamrick, student body president at the Community College of Southern Nevada, said this was the first time she has heard about reduced classes.
With institutions such as the Community College of Southern Nevada, the extra 3 percent cut to an $80 million biennial budget is significant, officials said. Areas such as student services and classes taught by part-time teachers will likely be affected, said Patty Charlton, vice president of finance at the Community College of Southern Nevada.
"When most of your money sits in instruction, it's going to have an impact," Charlton said. "We need to take a look at all the services we provide."
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which asked for a 30 percent increase in its budget in the 2003-2005 biennium will also be hit, but it is too soon to tell where the cuts will be, Tom Flagg, a UNLV spokesman said.
UNLV President Carol Harter said the campus is "looking at tremendous growth this fall."
"With the combination of having some of that growth unfunded and these cuts, we are going to have to review the possible impact on our course offerings," she said
Harter added that she will do everything to avoid employee layoffs.
Guinn's Chief of Staff Marybel Batjer said there is the possibility of layoffs in state government and a slowdown in offering human resource services.
Part of the $15 million hole in the university budget comes from the special session of the Legislature. State agencies and the university system were ordered to pay increased monthly premiums for their employees to protect the state health insurance program. Nichols said that will mean $5.1 million of increased expenditures this year to the system with no money allocated to cover it.
Nichols said she will approach the 2003 Legislature in hopes of getting an allocation to offset that.
The university system, she said, was already required to revert $1.8 million from its budget to the state treasury. Guinn ordered $613,000 in cuts in equipment and other things.
There are other financial problems facing the system. Revenue from investments nose-dived $15 million because of the nation's shaky economy. The Fire Science Academy in Carlin is expected to lose $5 million this year, and the deficit could increase to $7 million in 2004.
But after that, the losses are expected to diminish. The academy has been reopened recently, and once it is operating with no problems, a buyer may be sought for the firefighting training center.
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