Governor's Midyear Budget Cut

February 12, 2010

Members of the Rutgers Community:

As you probably know, Governor Christie has just announced his plan to close a massive $2.2 billion gap in the state’s current-year budget by June 30, including reductions for public schools and hospitals, and a $62.1 million cut in operating aid to higher education. This amounts to a 6.3% reduction of the original appropriation for each of the 12 senior public institutions. Based on the information available to us, Rutgers’ share of the reduction is $18.5 million (including the reduction to the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station), a shortfall that we must take immediate steps to absorb.

Executive Vice President Philip Furmanski will work with the chancellors, deans, and vice presidents to determine how Rutgers will maintain essential university missions while sharply reducing our operating costs. Given the global economic crisis and its effects on state resources, we had already developed contingency, prioritized budget-reduction plans with each of our units, anticipating possible cuts in the state allocation. Because of the magnitude of this cut and its imposition so late in the fiscal year, we will need to press deeply into these plans and we will have very little flexibility in how and where we can apply the reductions.

We also should be cognizant of the fact that the state faces a similarly austere budget picture for the 2010–2011 fiscal year. We will do everything we can to make certain that the new administration in Trenton recognizes the central role that the research universities play as engines of economic recovery, the enormous resources and talent we bring into the state, and the vulnerability of our competitive position in this regard. The Governor has indicated that he appreciates the special value our universities bring to the state, but he also faces grim fiscal realities at least for the near term. Thus, we also must redouble our own efforts to secure new sources of revenue and to enhance those that are within our control, where we have been so successful over the past few years, to maintain the margin of excellence of our programs.

Our community has come together very effectively to deal with adversity in the past. I thank you for the difficult steps you have already taken to find savings and do more with less. Now, once again, we must respond effectively on behalf of Rutgers to these new challenges, and I am confident that together we will.

I will keep the members of our Rutgers community informed as we address these issues.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey