Olympia
Update No. 1 • December 20, 2007
Governor’s Supplemental Budget
From: Larry
Ganders, Assistant to the President
Printable Adobe PDF Version
Governor funds
WSU security upgrades
About $1.8 million in campus security improvements
will be made at Washington
State University by a 2008 supplemental budget proposal announced this week by
Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Feeling the pressure on the state budget created by sputtering Christmas gift &
home sales, the governor’s supplemental request for higher education contained
no significant infusion of state funds for students or faculty. Instead, she
poured available operating funding into a “rainy day”
reserve. She squeezed higher education requests down to one-time investment in
security equipment like key card security access for WSU buildings and alarm
upgrades. She funded no new major higher education initiatives that require
ongoing state funding.
A major disappointment for the university is that the governor did
not provide one-time funding for a $1 million
feasibility study that would ultimately lead to replacing aging administrative
and student core computer support systems. That could create delays in a project
that is expected to take four years and $45 million to complete. Part of the
project would
have been to create more redundancy and backup to WSU information
technology system. WSU narrowly averted a major outage Wednesday night at 10
p.m. when rainwater flooded the room that housed university data and telephone
switches. Emergency action by WSU officials prevented the water from rising high
enough to cause widespread outages.
The governor did not fund new
major new buildings. WSU had sought $7.4 million for design of a new
Veterinary Medical Research Building. That could delay the
projects for two years, but some legislators are advocating that the project be
designed now. The Washington Veterinary Medical
Association has been supporting the legislative effort to secure design funding.
The governor also did not fund a $3.85 million operating request for Global
Animal Health and Agriculture issues.
That operating request is intended to create a new
School of Global Animal Health to provide practical, innovative solutions to
pressing infectious disease challenges in animals that impact humans. The
request targeted disease problems in agriculture. The package specifically
focused on timely issues like avian flu, e-coli, sudden oak death, honey bee
colony collapse, grape leaf roller virus, etc. Agriculture and veterinary
organizations have strongly endorsed the package, which is expected to be
considered when the 2008 Legislature reacts to the governor’s budget next month.
Requests by WSU and other universities for graduate program cut restoration,
salary equity for administrative professionals, and recruitment and retention of
faculty were also not recommended by the governor for the supplemental budget.
Alarm Upgrades and Key Card Access
The $1.8 million in the governor’s supplemental capital
budget for WSU will focus on three areas:
-
$579,000 for Key card access.
The budget states the funding is
“solely for key-card access control technology on the doors of classroom and
research facilities on the Pullman campus.”
-
$1.021 million for alarm upgrades
that would allow
students and staff to hear warnings in the event of an emergency by adding
voice capability to the existing system installed this year on the Pullman
campus.
-
$200,000 for branch campus outdoor public alert systems.
Similar security requests by other universities and community colleges were also
funded by the governor budget which totaled $14.2 million.
The security upgrades were part of a $3 million campus safety request by WSU.
The remaining $1.2 million that was not funded by the governor included some of
the university’s highest priorities for safety that grew out of lessons learned
from the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech.
The university had requested a full-time threat assessment coordinator that
would lead efforts to identify students or employees that could pose a safety
risk. Once identified, the university would
provide counseling or mental health support. Threat
assessment coordinators are already used in the K-12 education system.
Additional police officers and up-to-date police equipment and training were
also requested but not funded by the governor.
Governor supports Ruckelshaus Center funding.
The governor did recommend
one-time funding to the William Ruckelshaus Center “to explore practical and
effective ways to resolve or reduce conflict associated with land use
requirements and property rights.” The joint center with UW and WSU received
about $300,000 from the governor; about $175,000 of the funding was allocated
directly to WSU with the balance to UW.
Technical corrections funded.
The governor did provide $1.9 million in additional funding to address an
substantial error in the current biennial budget that resulted in WSU being
underfunded for state-mandated salary increases for its employees. WSU would
have to make reductions to unrelated portions of its budget if these corrections
are not made.
Olympia
Update is produced for persons interested in state government developments
impacting Washington State University. For more information, go to
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Contacts: Larry Ganders,
Assistant to the President, 360-956-2165. From WSU campuses, dial 8-2165. If you
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