Volume 66, No. 30
THE PAN AMERICAN
July 15, 2010
Neighborhood memories in limbo
UTPA expansion will eventually effect local people Expansion Series: Part 2
By Benny Salinas The Pan American
Alma E. Hernandez/The Pan American
HOME SWEET HOME- Mary Esther Saldana has lived in her house on Robert Street since 1968. “It would be so hard for me to leave, this has always been home to me,” she said. Saldana’s property may eventually be purchased during Phase II of expansion.
The small house on Robert Street wears its colors proudly. The patriotism shines through in every bright red shutter on white paneling and in the red brick lining the driveway leading up to the American flag pole by the front door. Mary Esther Saldana stands by the door, half looking at her well kept yard, half looking out at what is now overflow parking behind the baseball stadium. “It’s been a lifetime I’ve lived here,” Saldana said. “I moved in when I got married in my early twenties and never really left.” Since her move in 1968, what were once open fields and neighborhoods have turned into the parking lots and expansions of the university. In front of her house there are only scattered houses, some occupied, some waiting to be torn down. Saldana’s property lies just past the land acquired under Phase 1 of UTPA’s plans for expansion, with the date for the start of Phase 2 still not set in stone due to budget concerns. As of now, the university has purchased 65 homes, approximately 85% of the first phase. “I suppose I would sell this house if the
SEE EXPANSION || PAGE 2
Paybacks continue; UTPA searching for $14.3 mil
By Roxann Garcia The Pan American A semester after scrambling to find over $7 million to return to its parents, The University of Texas-Pan American is now reeling over another round of cuts, as the UT System has mandated that each of its schools give back an additional 10 percent from its budgets. UTPA President Robert Nelsen, who succeeded interim president Charles A. Sorber in January, was quickly greeted with the news that Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials on the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), has asked all state agencies to return five percent of previously encumbered funds. The decision which includes universities throughout Texas originally meant UTPA would return $7.4 million plus account for an added $1.2 million in employee benefits the
El ballet folklórico ofreció un taller del 12 al 16 de julio.
state has paid in the past. However the LBB will add an extra 10 percent of returned funds for the FY year 2012-2013 on top of the five percent to further assuage the state shortfall, which is expected to be near $4 billion. The decision will officially be made when the Legislature meets in January. This means the university has to dish out an extra $10.6 million to cover the loss of state funds, plus $3.7 million in employee benefits will have to be accounted for during the FY year. The loss of those funds, plus the $7.4 million given back to the state, means a net loss of $21.8 million for UTPA. “Because the state pays employee benefits in proportion to the state appropriation versus tuition charged at the institutions,” reported J.C. Gonzalez, assistant vice president of
Hurricane Alex displaces students from Unity Hall and Bronc Village
business affairs and the budget director for the university, “as the state’s proportion grows smaller, more of the employee benefit costs get shifted to the institution.” Gonzalez further explained that the university is currently working to initiate budget cuts during the upcoming FY year 2010-2011, approaching in September, to spread the cuts over two FY years rather than “getting hit hard in one year.” One route the university has taken toward satisfying the state-mandated cuts is identifying 12 percent in general revenue for each division, from funding from the state. For example, Academic Affairs is the most expensive in terms of budget therefore its target is $7 million of the 12 percent. Other divisions include Enrollment and Student Services, Business Affairs and University Advancement.
AIKIDO Club welcomes UTPA community
“This is all still very tentative,” Gonzalez said. “It’s an ongoing process; we still need to assess with President Nelsen. It is then that we can figure out which programs we need to keep or which we can shift funds from.” President Nelsen has said no layoffs or furloughs are expected, although some individual salaries have been reduced. The Faculty Senate has agreed with the elimination of merit raises; therefore no one will get laid off, which has been a faculty/staff fear all along. Salary sweeps, a process by which the university tales allocated funds back for positions that have not been filled, will also be used. The
SEE BUDGET || PAGE 2