Regents Share Different Takes On Budget Cutbacks

At their meeting in Milwaukee today, University of Wisconsin regents talked about the latest proposed budget cutbacks for the university system.

The budget debate lawmakers have been having about the UW System, is echoed by the Board of Regents.

The Joint Finance Committee has dropped Governor Scott Walker’s plans to give the UW more tax money, and even recommended a small budget cut. The UW says the small cut could cause bigger financial problems over the next few years, as the UW tries to meet spending promises to do things like help boost economic development.

Speaking at the UW-Milwaukee student union, regent John Drew said the lawmakers went after the UW using the recent controversy over the system’s reserve funds as a launching pad.

“I think the UW System, from [UW System President Kevin Reilly] on down to the janitors in this building, took a lot of unfair hits regarding the fund balances.”

But regent Gerald Whitburn says the UW brought some of the problems on itself by repeatedly raising tuition, including by 5.5 percent as recently as last fall. Whitburn says system administrators and other regents rebuffed his proposal to keep the hike to 4 percent.

“Couldn’t possibly do that! Couldn’t live with that! Couldn’t get by with that! By the way, what I proposed would have cost, I think, less than $15 million in the tuition line.”

The regents are now on board with state plans to freeze UW tuition. System administrators and most regents say they will find a way to deal with the budget cut, if the full legislature passes it.