Way down on the 26th page of a 27-page explanation of the UNC system's proposed operating budget for the next two years is this:
10. Efficient Use of Available Resources - Continue Efforts to Establish Accountability & Performance Measures. $3 million in 2009-10, and $2 million in 2010-2011.
I know what you're thinking. Blah, blah, blah, boring.
True.
But priority 10 on the university's list of 10 budget priorities got some spirited discussion Thursday at a committee meeting of the UNC system's Board of Governors.
Here's why: This item is the UNC system asking the state for $5 million over the next two years to essentially get its financial house in order. The state is moving nine UNC system campuses off the state's payroll system to be managed by the university.
The campuses are essentially the state's smallest: Elizabeth City, Fayetteville State, N.C. Central, N.C. A&T, UNC-Asheville, UNC Pembroke, UNC School of the Arts, Winston-Salem State and Western Carolina.
The move is being done because some campuses, like Fayetteville State, N.C. A
& T and N.C. Central University, have run into serious financial or
bookkeeping problems either discovered or widely revealed by state
audits in recent years. So the university system is setting up a new management office to oversee the standardization of business processes among its campuses.
During a Thursday meeting, board member Frank Daniels Jr. argued that this budget item, while dry, is significant and should be a higher priority.
"It's one of the few items designed to save money and protect our assets," he said. "It has no sex appeal but is absolutely necessary. It goes to our credibility."
UNC President Erskine Bowles agreed that it was an important initiative that needed funding but was reluctant to give it a higher priority than budget items that will fund initiatives on campuses. The money would fund a program managed within Bowles' UNC system office.
"I think it's really critical," he said. "But to me, the campuses are always more important in times like these than we are."
Jim Phillips, the board's former chair, said a higher priority might send a clearer message about the university's intentions.
"It speaks volumes to say we're committed to getting our house in order," he said.
The item was not reprioritized. A motion to move it up six spots to number 4 on the university's budget priority list failed, 4-3, but members pledged to lobby hard for the funding with legislators.
If you're dying to thumb through UNC's entire proposed budget for the next two years, click on the attachment to this blog entry.
