November 2014
TO:Budget Managers
FROM:Will Dudley, Provost
SUBJECT:FY 2015-16 Budget Process
The budget process is your annual opportunity to request the resources you need to accomplish the goals of your department, program, or office. Please take advantage of this invitation to communicate about the important work you are doing and the support you require from the College.
If you believe that accomplishing your highest priorities in 2015-16 will require increased funding in comparison to your budget for 2015-16, please submit a detailed description of the particular purposes and associated costs. Your request will have a greater chance of success if you: 1) explain how this new spending will serve essential College goals; 2) demonstrate diligent effort to find savings in other areas of your budget; and 3) make full use of all endowed resources available to support your department, program, or office.
If you believe that a new staff position is absolutely necessary, please submit a justification of the need, a position description, and an updated organizational chart. Your request will be more compelling if you can demonstrate that every effort has been made to: 1) allocate existing staff positions with maximal efficiency; 2) collaborate with other units wherever possible; and 3) identify low-priority tasks that no longer need to be performed.
Six years after the great recession of 2008, the College stands in good financial health, thanks in large part to your collective efforts. Managers’ budgets are 14% lower today (adjusted for inflation) than they were a decade ago. Your spending restraint has enabled the College to maintain its core commitments to educational quality, affordable access for students from all backgrounds, competitive compensation for our employees, and well-maintained facilities.
Thank you in advance for continuing to think so carefully about how to do the most good with the resources at your disposal.
The budget submission deadline is Friday, December 19th.
Budget Submission Details
Each unit is asked to please complete a Budget Summary Cover Page to accompany the Excel worksheets with the budget submission. This cover page should summarize your 2015-16 budget submission.
Units with spendable gifts and endowments should shift as much of their unrestricted budget to these restricted accounts as the gift restrictions allow.
Student employment should be maintained at 2014-15 levels. Please hire students before other temporary labor when possible.
Minimum Wage information for the FY 2016 submission (for Student Labor only):
Governor Deval Patrick signed a law that raises the state's $8 per hour minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017. The law will incrementally raise the state hourly minimum wage by one dollar a year. Please do not adjust your Student labor budget for the FY 2016 submission. Any minimum wage adjustments will be done at the conclusion of the FY 2016 budget process.
2015-16 Budget Timeline
Item
/ Due Date / Submit To / Copies ToBudget Discussions between Managers and President’s Staff / October-December, 2014 / n/a / n/a
Technology Equipment Requests / As communicated in the OIT memo / Academic offices:
Jonathan Morgan-Leamon (OIT)
Administrative offices:
Criss Laidlaw (OIT) / President’s Staff member
& Kristan Renish
Staffing Requests / December 19, 2014 / Martha Tetrault (Human Resources) / President’s Staff member
& Kristan Renish
Detailed Budget Submission / December 19, 2014 / Kristan Renish / n/a
Process Review
Budget Managers should develop their budget proposals during the Fall semester.
- For faculty chairs in the academic areas and programs, the Dean of the Faculty’s Office is available as a resource to assist you with budget submissions.
- For non-academic areas, please work with the President’s Staff member with responsibility in your area.
All are committed to working with managers on these proposals and will benefit from these discussions when they are asked to prioritize requests.
All units will receive budget submission worksheets electronically and are expected
to submit their requests electronically in the same format.
Please use the Budget Summary Cover Page to accompany the numerical detail.
After the budget office receives the submissions in late December, a summary document for each President Staff’s member, detailing the budget and other requests in his or her division, will be prepared. President’s Staff will then prioritize requests from their units and discuss budget requests in January, February and early March, internally and externally with the Committee on Priorities and Resources, culminating in a budget proposed to the Board of Trustees in April. Managers will receive notification of their approved 2015-16 budgets in a timely manner.
Most Budget Managers will be focused on the manager’s and the student & temporary wage sections of the budget worksheets. Please consider these categories separately.
Please refer to the separate file (Budget info details.docx)with details on distinctions between restricted and unrestricted items, and applicable information to assist you with details of the submission.
CapitalImprovement Requests
Capital improvement requests should be submitted separately from the operating budget – please see the memo Bob Wright sent earlier this fall. If you have any questions about improvement requests, please contact Rita Coppola-Wallace, Executive Director, Design and Construction.
These requests will be reviewed and prioritized by your President’s Staff member. High priority requests will be submitted to the Provost for inclusion in the capital improvement prioritization process.
Technology Equipment Requests
Since primary desktop workstations are inventoried by the Office for Information Technology (OIT) and replaced on a regular cycle, there is no need to request them. If the unit has computing needs beyond desktop workstations, those needs should be addressed to OIT.
For academic departments:
Academic departments will receive more detailed information from OIT regarding the process for instructional technology hardware and software
requests. Please contact Jonathan Morgan-Leamon if you have questions.
Units seeking to implement new software applications in 2015-16 should also submit a separate proposal to Jonathan Morgan-Leamoneven if funding is requested as part of the department’s budget submission. Please submit a proposal to Jonathan Morgan-Leamoneven if the unit does not require additional funding for the software. Please indicate all requirements for staff resources and ongoing support and maintenance, both in your unit and from OIT.
For administrative units:
Units should send their hardware requests (other than primary workstations) to Criss Laidlaw.
Units seeking to implement new software applications in 2015-16 should also submit a separate proposal to Criss Laidlaw even if funding is requested as part of the department’s budget submission. Please submit a proposal to Criss Laidlaw even if the unit does not require additional funding for the software. Please indicate all requirements for staff resources and ongoing support and maintenance, both in your unit and from OIT.
Other Equipment Requests
Any non-technology-related special equipment requests should be submitted to the Vice Presidentfor Finance & Administration’s Office along with the unit’s main budget submission. Requests should include a separate narrative justification for the purchase.
Photocopier Requests
Any requestsfor photocopiers should please be submitted to Seth Rogers in OIT and should include a narrative justification for the purchase.
Staffing Requests
If you believe that a new staff position is absolutely necessary, please submita justification of the need, a position description, and an updated organizational chart. Your request will be more compelling if you can demonstrate that every effort has been made to: 1) allocate existing staff positions with maximal efficiency; 2) collaborate with other units wherever possible; and 3) identify low-priority tasks that no longer need to be performed.
Please send any staffing requests to Martha Tetrault, with copies to Kristan Renish and your President’s Staff member.
Summary and Contact Information
Thank you for your continued cooperation with our efforts to allocate resources carefully and prudently to meet the College's objectives.
If you would like additional information, please contact the following:
Kristan Renish, Budget and Planning Analyst, ext. 4098
Christina Gregory, Senior Accountant, ext. 4003
Todd Hoffmann, Budget Director, ext. 4988
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