Last Tuesday, Gov. Tim Kaine announced budget cuts to meet the Fiscal Year 2010 $1.35 billion revenue shortfall. The total shortfall for the both FY 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 is estimated at more than $7 billion. Kaine’s plan calls for the elimination of 929 positions, including 593 layoffs.
Among the saving measures announced, a one-day furlough of all state employees on the Friday before Memorial Day in 2010, and reconfiguring the Department of Corrections facilities by closing two older facilities and one juvenile correction facility. In education, Kaine is calling for reductions of 13 or 15 percent for institutions of higher education.
The impact of the budget cuts for state colleges will take a few days to fully understand. Piedmont Virginia Community College President Frank Friedman issued a statement soon after the cuts were announced, saying that the initial 13 percent cut will be supplemented with federal stimulus funds.
“Although the Governor announced a budget reduction of 13% for the Virginia Community College System, we are pleased that he decided to use one-time federal stimulus funds to offset part of this, resulting in a reduction of 6.9%,” said Friedman.
“However, since the federal stimulus funds will not be available next year [2010-2011], we are not only concerned about this year’s budget but also very concerned about next year’s budget.”
Earlier this year, Friedman told C-VILLE that at 5 percent, about $420,000 would have to be cut from PVCC’s $18-million-plus budget. The cut, he said, would have a “minimal impact” on the principal functions of the community college.
UVA’s budget will be cut by 8 percent with a total general funds impact of more than $19 million.
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