University Treasurer Randy Howard considered Monday morning's talk with the Financial and Budgetary Affairs Committee a "candid discussion."
The 20 proposed ideas for cutting the budget presented at the forum last Wednesday were reiterated, but the ideas haven't been analyzed yet.
Committee Chairperson Sue Weller said a lot of the ideas discussed didn't have dollar amounts with them. She said the first few ideas were discussed more than others because of the two-hour time restraint, but all were discussed at some point.
"I think we all left the meeting feeling good about it," she said. "We're really encouraged by the openness of the administration. As information is made available, it's provided to us."
She said employee benefits was discussed at some length because it was something that affected the entire group and the faculty at large. Weller said some retirees are worried about losing their retirement benefits, but that's not what's happening. The university is looking into how much money it contributes to retirements and pension costs, and it's considering changing the percentage of money contributed to pension plans, she said.
Energy efficiency was another point of discussion. Weller said the committee talked about creating more awareness policies for environmental management and what the university could do to conserve energy.
The group also talked about replacing old computers around campus and how frequently computers should be replaced.
Howard said the group was mostly receptive of the proposed ideas, and they offered input about how certain topics might affect different employees in different ways.
"It was beneficial to hear their initial reaction and how [the ideas] might be viewed across campus," he said.
No definite decisions were made in the closed meeting. The next budget forum is 4 p.m. March 16 in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Ballroom.
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