The likelihood of the University suffering another midyear budget cut intensified Wednesday after the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference determined state government must slash $198 million in expenses, according to The Associated Press.
Jason Droddy, the University’s director of external affairs, said in an e-mail that the Joint Budget meeting on Friday will determine if the budget is in a deficit. Droddy said if this is the case, then Gov. Bobby Jindal will be notified, and he will have 30 days to submit a plan with cuts. Due to the setup of Louisiana’s Constitution, higher education is one of the only portions of the state budget susceptible to cuts.
“If there is a midyear cut, then LSU System will not be spared,” Droddy said.
But Droddy warned that “this is all speculation” at the moment, and that just because revenue estimates are down, it does not mean that there is a deficit.
Chancellor Michael Martin, on the other hand, sent a broadcast e-mail Wednesday before the Revenue Estimating Conference meeting that emphasized the momentum of this meeting’s effect on the University’s budget and hinted at a cut.
“Changes in revenue projections do not necessarily precipitate a budget reduction, but it is likely that LSU will experience some midyear rescission,” Martin wrote. “If that is the case, we will receive instructions from the LSU System that will be used as guidance for the University.”
The University took a $1.9 million budget cut at the beginning of this fiscal year after the LSU System Board of Supervisors absorbed some of its budget gap by allocating $7.9 million toward the University under the name “LSU System Flagship and Excellence Fund.”
From the start of the semester, the chancellor has underscored the possibility of another midyear cut.
“Recent history suggests that it’s not out of the question that we would get a midyear cut as has happened in the past,” Martin said in August. “So one of the things we’re doing, while celebrating the success we had, is preparing just in case we face a midyear cut.”
Jindal’s main budget planner, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, told The Associated Press that his office is crafting ways to plug the deficit, which he hopes to present to lawmakers on Friday. The Associated Press reported Rainwater would not disclose the types of cuts his office is contemplating.
“I’ve got the number now, so we’re going to work over the next couple of days to put together a plan that mitigates cuts to health care and higher education,” Rainwater told The Associated Press. “We’re going to make decisions just like families and just like businesses do every day.”
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]