The Daily Bulletin

Our Buffalo State University Financial Sustainability Plan: 2022–2026 has been updated to indicate the progress completed to date. You can find the status on the Financial Sustainability website.

I begin by thanking the members of the Buffalo State University community for the work that has been completed to date and the continued focus on the work ahead.

You will see that progress has been made in a number of the seven priority areas, yet much work is left to be done. The enrollment and advancement updates will not be available until early fall, after freeze file and end of fiscal year, respectively. I will be able to provide an advocacy update once the state has concluded the budget and SUNY has confirmed the impact to SUNY campuses.

I would like to share some of the budgetary changes that will be implemented beginning May 1, 2023, within the area of workforce planning (Priority 7). This has been the area that has received the most questions, and thus I will highlight major changes here.

As you know, we are experiencing a significant shortfall within the budget, and we must reduce expenses across campus. The salaries of our employees account for 80 percent of the budget of the institution, and although we have seen savings in a number of areas related to OTPS and other campus reductions this year, the workforce is where we must capture significant savings. The divisional heads have been engaged in workforce planning for several years, and this year they have continued to drill into their divisions to search for potential savings. Vice presidents and their teams have reviewed data related to their units, explored the rates of attrition and retirements among employees, reviewed the staffing levels of peer and benchmark campuses, examined trends within each area, held discussions within divisional areas, and carefully used data to guide and inform their decisions.

I have advised divisional heads that they must forward a plan to me by the end of the spring semester, meeting the following requirements:

1. Reduce campuswide salaries by a total of $4 million for the 2022–2023 fiscal year through reduction of vacant lines created by attrition and retirement.
2. Review any positions that are currently in an active search mode and potentially close any searches that are
   a. not funded from a new source of revenue;
   b. not critical to the health and safety of the institution;
   c. not essential for compliance with state, federal, or SUNY Trustee requirements;
   d. not related to enrollment stabilization or enrollment growth; or
   e. not related to accreditation requirements.
3. Require that any newly vacated lines be held open for 12 months to increase the one-time savings available to campus to help close anticipated yearly budgetary gaps.

The degree of success in Priorities 1–6 of the Buffalo State Financial Sustainability Plan will determine the level of future reductions. If few new financial resources become available through enrollment growth, advocacy, partnerships, and shared services, it will be necessary to continue to reduce the budget by a similar amount each year over the next three years or until the gap is closed.

I would like to express my deep appreciation to the workforce planning group that provided the data to ground our deliberations and decisions. I would like to express my gratitude to all community members who are approaching our current budgetary challenges with a collaborative spirit and a willingness to bring our creative energy to the tasks that lie ahead. And I thank the Buffalo State Senate Budget and Staff Allocations Committee for its deliberations related to workforce planning and its support of our work moving forward.

I also thank the Spending Constraints Oversight Committee for its significant reviews of spending, as it has helped us heighten our awareness of campus spending and the many necessary costs to run a university. This committee will be disbanded effective April 18.

In solidarity,
Kate Conway-Turner