Ball State University could see its state funding cut by 5.4 percent during the state legislature's special session that begins today. But a top university official said this week it's still too early to tell exactly how the school will be affected.
"We don't know what our budget is yet for the upcoming school year because the budget that's on the table right now may or may not be approved", Randy Howard, assistant university treasurer, said.
The university earlier announced a hiring freeze for all personnel except for faculty and public safety officers and Howard said the school hoped to avoid layoffs.
"We are committed to do whatever we can to prevent negative action against current employees," he said.
Ball State, with about 2,980 full-time employees and about 5,300 students in part-time jobs over the course of one year, is the largest employer in Delaware County.
The Indiana General Assembly failed to pass a two-year budget in this year's session. Gov. Mitch Daniels called a special session that begins today, and lawmakers face a June 30 deadline to craft a new spending plan for the next two years.
Daniels earlier announced his own spending proposal, which included a 4.4 percent cut in state funding for the coming school year and an additional 1 percent the following year. The governor's proposal is only a starting point, however, and state lawmakers are not bound by those recommendations in writing the budget.
"We don't know for certain if there will even be a cut and if there is it's far too early to speculate the amount that will be cut from the budget," Howard said.
Ball State spends about 75 percent of the school's budget on employee salaries and benefits.
Ball State economics professor Cecil Bohanon said that because so much of the budget is spent on salaries, the university in making cuts would likely have to choose between reducing staff or raising tuition. Budget cuts would most likely affect faculty and staff first.
"One way to deal with this would be to not fill every position of people retiring from the university," Bohanon said.
"Another way to deal with this would be raising tuition, which would affect incoming students, but there's no good way to solve the problem without affecting someone," Bohanon said. "The 5.4 percent proposal is the start, but no one knows where it could end,"
It's not just officials and professors who are concerned about the effects of the hiring freeze and the budget cut proposal. Austin Brown, a student employee at Bracken Library, said it's a gamble right now getting a job.
"This is going to impact the structure of the university," Brown said. "Last year certain departments weren't able to hire student helpers because they didn't have the money and I think this could happen again. I've come across people on campus applying for jobs only to never get a call back. It just seems like students will get the raw end of the deal."
Among other concerns, the hiring freeze may leave some Muncie residents wondering how this will affect the current unemployment rate.
Marc Lotter of the Indiana of Workforce Development said that despite what could happen at the university that Delaware County and Central Indiana's unemployment rates are below the state average. Lotter also said there could be another reason that this rate could increase in coming months.
"Central Indiana is performing better than a lot of other areas in the state, but the numbers don't yet reflect what's happened in the auto industry," Lotter said. "While we do expect an increase in the unemployment rate, we don't expect to see an extreme one as long as no unforeseen circumstances take place."
Community leaders in Muncie are also bracing for the potential effects of the budget cut proposal. Molly Flodder is the executive director of Teamwork for Quality Living in Muncie. The organization is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping people in Delaware County get out of poverty and find work.
"The hiring freeze at the university will be a stumbling block for the people we help, but won't prevent them from finding jobs because they are highly motivated and don't give up easily," Flodder said. "Despite the economy being in a bad situation and people concerned about jobs, this a rallying cry for people in the community to pull their resources together."
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