UF's budget situation got brighter Thursday, at least for the near future.
UF President Bernie Machen announced at a Faculty Senate meeting that UF's second round of budget cuts would be almost $5 million less than expected, and no academic departments would have to reduce their budgets.
The cut, now $11.5 million instead of the previously announced $16 million, will come from UF's reserves, a pool of one-time funds separate from the university's budget.
Bottom line: Students and faculty won't feel a thing, at least for now. Machen said all indications from the state Legislature and economic projections point to more cuts next year, maybe as high as $40 million to $50 million.
The Legislature will determine next year's budget during its session in March.
Earlier this year, UF cut $34 million from its budget. In January, the university learned it needed to trim $16 million more by July based on an estimate of what the Legislature would do in March.
In a Thursday conference call, the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida's 11 public universities, announced that the Legislature's spring budget cut proposal is half as much as the board expected.
Each university will have a smaller burden to bear, and UF's will be $11.5 million, said Bill Edmonds, the board's spokesman.
But because of the reduced cut this year, Edmonds said next year's could be worse.
"The Legislature is burning up its savings this year, which leaves no cushion for the next," he wrote in an e-mail.
To prepare for next year, Machen said every UF department must propose a plan to deal with a possible 6 percent cut, which would amount to about $40 million to $50 million.
In the long term, he said UF should rethink how it operates.
Machen pointed to a consistent decline in UF's state support for the past 20 years.
Machen said he would work with UF's chief financial officer and ask other universities, especially private institutions, how they manage without strong state support.
"It's chilling," he said. "We get our money from the state, and we spend it. It's a fair conclusion to me that that model doesn't work anymore, if it ever worked."
