| House panel proposes $78.9m cut by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff
The House budget package calls for cutting the five-campus system's maintenance appropriation from $438,276,144 to $356,470,020 or 18 percent. Last year, the University received a maintenance appropriation of $445.6 million, but subsequent cuts ordered by the governor reduced funding to $438.3 million. When applied against the original funding for Fiscal 2003, the House cut is actually 20 percent. The Ways and Means Committee also reduced funding for the nine-campus state college system by $35.6 million or 18 percent and the 15 community colleges by nearly $40 million, also by 18 percent. Both percentages are based on the adjusted appropriations. The public higher education cuts, according to the committee summary, are to be offset partially by a new $30 million higher education efficiency incentive program aimed at promoting cost savings. The Ways and Means Committee budget also level funds the matching endowment program at $2 million and Commonwealth College at $1.715 million. Funding for the Star Store Reserve, a Dartmouth campus project in New Bedford, was eliminated by the House panel, which cut funding for that campus's Advanced Technology Center in Fall River by half or $550,442. The Ways and Means Committee report also recommends no funding for library materials and calls for a 10 percent cut in scholarship funding. Also included in the budget recommendation is a proposal to change the share of health insurance costs paid by state employees from the current 15 percent to a multi-tiered system pegged to salary levels. Calling the state's economic condition "quite harsh and severe," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman John H. Rogers (D-Norwood) said higher insurance premiums are a likelihood as lawmakers try to address a huge budget shortfall. Under the Rogers plan, employees who earn less than $25,000 per year will continue to pay 15 percent of their insurance premiums. Employees making between $25,000 and $49,999 would pay 20 percent; those earning $50,000 to $89,999 would pay 25 percent; those earning $90,000 to $109,999 would pay 30 percent and employees paid more than $110,000 would pay 35 percent. According to Rogers, the tiered plan will save the state about $35 million, while protecting retirees and lower wage state workers. The proposal, which requires legislative approval, is among the items to be debated this week as House members try to fashion a final spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The Rogers insurance plan differs from an earlier proposal floated by Gov. Mitt Romney, who favors charging state employees a minimum of 25 percent of their health care premiums. The governor wants public workers who choose insurance plans considered less cost-effective to pay more than 25 percent. Romney claims his plan will save the state about $62 million. |
