In his latest proposal to balance the state’s 2001-03 budget, Gov. John Kitzhaber on Tuesday vetoed six bills from the special legislative session that concluded Feb. 11 and threatened to veto more before he calls the Legislature back into session on Feb. 25.
While Kitzhaber and the Legislature continue to spar over what cuts and additional sources of revenue are needed to patch the $830 million hole in the state’s biennial budget, the governor pointed to $295 million in agreed-upon cuts and $284 million in agreed-upon revenue sources as a sign that they’re getting close to an agreement.
For higher education, that agreement may have already been made. While Kitzhaber vetoed bills that would have cut money from the Oregon Health Plan and borrowed money from the Common School Fund, he made no mention of bills which would cut $48 million from the Oregon University System.
University Provost John Moseley said that while he had not seen the governor’s latest proposal, administrators are operating on the assumption that $48 million is the cut the OUS will face. That would mean an $8 million cut to the University’s operating budget, a number Moseley said the University could live with.
“If the numbers stay with what’s been predicted, it’s highly unlikely that the kinds of cuts we will have to make will be cuts to academic programs,” he said.
Moseley said cost-cutting measures the University had already made, combined with revenue from an expected enrollment increase next year will allow the University to meet the proposed cuts. But the debate is still far from over, and Moseley said he wouldn’t declare victory until after the budget was finalized.
“We’re still biting our fingernails,” he said.