Ga. university chief defends budget
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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia university system chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. faced tough questions from state legislators Thursday about boosting staff pay and avoiding employee furloughs even as the state struggles to fill a $2 billion budget hole.
Davis defended the move.
“We must not make decisions that mistake the urgent for the important,” Davis told a state budget hearing at the state Capitol.
But legislators blasted Davis for raising fees for students — a $100 boost at the state’s larger research institutions — while not asking for sacrifices from academics and other system staff.
“Before we go to the students of Georgia and raise their fees, what has the academic world done to share in this economic downturn?” state Rep. Chuck Martin, an Alpharetta Republican, asked.
Davis noted that employees are paying higher health insurance costs.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s budget recommendation cuts funding for the university system by 9.5 percent in the current fiscal year and 10.5 percent for the fiscal year set to begin July 1.
Still, while raises have been frozen for most state employees amid the budget crunch, the majority of the university system’s 41,000 employees will get raises this year that average 2.5 percent. University officials said the system was legally bound to give the raises this year to those under contract, such as professors. The decision was made to provide the raises across the board to avoid a two-tiered system.
Many state agencies are also furloughing staff to cut costs but Davis said he is “philosophically against” furloughs because they only delay budget problems.
But he faced skepticism from state legislators who noted that law enforcement and corrections officers were being asked to hand back over hard-fought raises.
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