Board approves "temporary deficit" budget

The University’s 2014-2015 Operating Budget has been considered, endorsed, recommended and approved by both Senate and the Board of Governors, at meetings held on March 24 and April 1.

Vice-President, Academic & Provost Geoff McBoyle presented the operating budget as recommended by Senate to the Board of Governors last Tuesday, and noted that the budget has a temporary deficit of $912,000.

“I say temporary because by the February board meeting, when we present the state of the budget mid-year, we will probably have eliminated that deficit as a result of one of two reasons,” McBoyle said. “Our revenues are based on forecasted students. We will know our actuals in November. In the last 10 years, we’ve had an increase over what was projected of 1.5 per cent. If we don’t do that, we do have a contingency reserve of $1M.”

Ninety per cent of the university’s revenues come from government operating grants and tuition charged to undergraduate and graduate students. McBoyle explained that on the grant side, revenues have decreased by $3.8M mainly as a result of two-year “policy levers” introduced by the Ontario government in 2012 coupled with a $750 international student recovery fee, which is in the second year of a four-year rollout.

On the tuition side, revenues increased by $22M for undergraduates and $3M for graduate students.

Adding all the revenue streams together brings a total income increase of $22.5M for 2014-2015, McBoyle said, which led to the question of where the university would spend those dollars.

Salary and wages will increase by $16.2M for 2014-2015, a 4.8 per cent increase, with $14M of that total as a result of the University’s five-year salary agreement with employees, which is in its final year. An additional $2M was allocated for the hiring of new faculty and staff. Benefits also increased by $4.7M, or about 6.2 per cent.

Student support, including tuition set aside and undergraduate scholarships and bursaries, was increasing by $2.6M or 6.3 per cent.

Income sharing, which is money shared by the University to the Faculties as a result of various incremental funding agreements, would increase by $10M.

On the reduction side, the academic development fund decreased by $1.5M, the endowment fund investment shortfall was lowered by $1M, and the undergraduate programs holdback was decreased by $620,000.

“In order to make all this work, I’ve had to put an expenditure reduction of 3 per cent on the faculties, for $7.5M.” McBoyle said. The end result is the $912,000 temporary deficit.

McBoyle said that monies from the $7.5M expenditure reduction would be used for strategic initiatives as the University moves forward with the implementation of the Strategic Plan. “We’ve always done that when we have reductions,” he said. “That money goes back to the faculties as they bring projects forward, and we already have many of those.”

McBoyle said that even with the temporary deficit in mind, the operating budget was “pretty close to a balanced budget, which is a reasonable state for the University at this time.”

He indicated that the deficit was likely an anomaly in the budgeting cycle, citing the final year of the staff salary agreement as an example, and noting that the hiring freeze announced earlier in the year would continue at least until July 2014. However, he explained, the provincial operating grant has been on the decline for several years, and the University is assuming that there will be no growth in operating funding beyond 2013-2014. In addition, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities recently set the tuition increase limit at 3 per cent overall, leaving the University with two choices when it came to increasing tuition revenues – take more students, or focus on international students.

“I put a negative figure in the budget to indicate that things are not as rosy as they’ve been in the past,” McBoyle said. “Things are not normal. Things are changing. Revenues are being controlled and expenses are not, and we have to put greater efficiencies into the system. If we can’t get more money, we have to save money.”

 

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AHS dean nominating committee seeks input

The Dean of Applied Health Sciences Nominating Committee wants to hear from you.

That's the gist of a memo sent out yesterday from Geoff McBoyle, chair of the nominating committee, which has been formed under the terms of Policy 45 and which has held its first meeting.

Students, faculty and staff in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences are encouraged to provide their comments and views concerning the reappointment of Susan Elliot for a second three-year term (From July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018), or concerning the deanship in general, with a deadline of Friday, May 2.

Comments may be sent to any member of the nominating committee or to committee secretary Mike Grivicic. All comments will be held in complete confidence by the committee.

The members of the nominating committee are:

• Jack Callaghan, Kinesiology (ext. 37080)
• Clark Dickerson, Kinesiology (ext. 37844)
• Brendan Lew, undergraduate student
• Heather Mair, Recreation and Leisure Studies (ext. 35917)
• Meredith McGinnis, staff member (ext. 33631)
• John Mielke, School of Public Health and Health Systems (ext. 38606)
• Marina Mourtzakis, Kinesiology (ext. 38459)
• André Roy, Dean of Environment (ext. 32884)
• Bryan Smale, Recreation and Leisure Studies (ext. 35664)
• Lana Vanderlee, graduate student
• Katy Wong-Francq, staff member (ext. 36554)
  

Upon completion of the consultation, a ballot will be distributed to the Applied Health Sciences community as set out in paragraph 4.B.1 of Policy 45.

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Rizzo, Walker named Athletes of the Year

The Department of Athletics handed out their year-end accolades at the 54th Annual Athletics Banquet on Friday, April 4 at the St. George Banquet Hall in Waterloo. More than 600 student-athletes gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of the 2013-2014 season.

Women’s golfer Devon Rizzo and men’s curler Jake Walker earned the top honours as athletes of the year.

Devon Rizzo was awarded the Marsden Trophy as Warrior female athlete of the year after yet another dominating season in the OUA women’s golf scene. Rizzo has been nothing short of spectacular since making her debut with the women’s golf team in 2010. In her rookie season, Rizzo collected three OUA individual gold medals in just five events while earning the lowest score in OUA women’s golf history twice with her pair of 70’s while leading Waterloo to their first ever OUA Championship title. In her second season the management engineering student continued her stellar stroke on the link capturing two more individual gold medals and once again leading her team to an OUA Championship. In 2012, Rizzo won three straight individual gold medals including a three-peat at the Guelph Invitational. She would go on to medal at each of the six events played at including a silver medal performance at the OUA Championship. This season, she medalled in six of seven events, and was named an OUA all-star for the fourth straight year. She also reached the pinnacle of OUA golf, capturing the individual title at the Championship event played at Grey Silo, finishing seven strokes ahead of her competitors.

Jake Walker collected the Totzke Trophy as the Waterloo male athlete of the year thanks to his success both on the provincial and national level in his four year tenure with the black and gold. Walker won back to back OUA Championships in 2011 and 2012 and was named an OUA all-star and CIS all-Canadian both of those seasons. On the national stage, Walker has appeared in two CIS Championships including a gold medal performance last spring in Alberta winning Waterloo’s first National Title since 1996. He was also a CIS silver medalist in 2011. In his two years at the national tournament, Walker boasts a 13-5 record. Over the past 3 seasons, Walker has had a 19-5 record at the OUA Championship including a 7-2 record in Guelph this season. In addition to his university playing success, Walker was a Canadian Junior Champion in 2010 and bronze medalist at the World Championships that same year.

Other awards handed out at the event included the annual Warrior Shield of Excellence, the Imprint Coach of the Year, the Federation of Students' Rookies of the Year, the J.O. Hemphill and Director's awards, and the Brian Farrance award.

For a full list of award recipients, check out the Athletics website.

 

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Notes as examinations begin

On-campus examinations begin today. The full schedule of exams is available on the Registrar's Office site.

Friends and colleagues of Doreen Knol in Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA) will gather for her retirement celebration at 4:00 p.m. today in South Campus Hall's Laurel Room.

The Office of the Dean of Science will close at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, April 9) as staff members attend Pam Van Allen’s retirement party at the University Club.

Human Resources has reported that retiree David McKinnon died Wednesday, April 2. David began working at the University in August 2001. He worked in Housing as a Residence Attendant and retired January 1, 2012. He is survived by his spouse, Emilie.

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