President sends update on budget process

Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard today sent a message to the campus community outlining the current state of the budget process:

Colleagues:

It has been some time since I have provided an update on the 2015-17 capital and operating budgets for Western. This is, of course, because there really has been nothing to report.

Normally, we would long ago have had an operating budget available for additional campus scrutiny. Given the legislative situation, that has not been possible. So, where are we?

Our open, bottom up, transparent, everything-on-the-web budget process has proceeded as far as we could go. Proposals have moved up from departments and colleges, through divisions, and then on to UPRC. UPRC (representative of faculty, staff, and students) has reviewed the budget proposals in open and audiocast meetings. They have now formed their recommendations.

Normally, the next step would be for the deans and vice presidents to consider the proposals and recommendations and then to form penultimate recommendations for the campus to once again weigh in on. It is not possible, though, to decide on the options to fund without knowing what our budget will be.

Where to go from here? In order to be prepared to have proposals to campus as soon as possible after the State`s budgets become law, the deans, VPs and I will begin meeting next week to develop three budget scenarios: "best case," "worst case," and "most likely case."

Once we know the "actual case" as determined in Olympia, we will then be in a position to very quickly have recommendations available for final campus review.  

We have no way of knowing just when that will occur. Best guess right now is that a deal will be announced in Olympia by mid-June. It will take some days after that development for us to then have Western-specific recommendations to campus.

In any conceivable situation, it will not be possible to have recommendations available for the Trustees to act upon until after the fiscal year begins. So, at the Board`s June meeting and as we have occasionally had to do in the past, we will ask our Board to adopt a "continuing resolution" with Board action on the particulars of 2015-17 operating and capital budgets taking place at a later meeting.

I much appreciate your patience and your engagement.

Best,

Bruce