University outlines plans for extra budget revenue

The year-end fund balance will help underwrite an early retirement plan.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University ended fiscal year 2005 a bit better off than it did fiscal 2004.
The net end-of-year revenue "was very close to last year's number," Jeff Taylor, director of budget planning and resource analysis, said in a report to the YSU Board of Trustees.
The report showed the 2005 operating budget had $3,493,017 left as of June 30. That's about $86,000 more than the $3,406,977 the previous year's budget had left at the end of its fiscal period.
"You always hope there's more," said John Habat, vice president for administration. "You never know how the end of the year will shape out."
The year-end fund balance gives the university extra money to put into the $131.2 million 2006 general fund budget and allows it to do some things that might not have been funded otherwise, he said.
The trustees have approved a resolution modifying the fiscal year 2006 budget by nearly $3.5 million.
A chunk of the money is going back into academics, Habat said, referring to $514,000 earmarked for research incentive accounts and $648,000 channeled into course fee accounts.
An additional $502,000 went to cover encumbrances, Taylor said, explaining that encumbrances occur when funds are committed to be spent in May or June but the bills don't come in until after June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Retirement plan
The fund balance also gives the university a big down payment on the new Early Retirement Incentive Plan that will be put into place as part of the three-year contract with YSU's Association of Classified Employees union, Habat said, noting $1 million will go into that account.
The retirement plan must be offered to all eligible YSU employees who contribute to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. The university estimates that as many as 185 employees may apply for the benefit.
The program calls for the university to buy up to two years of service for retiring workers, and that could cost as much as $9.91 million over a three-year period, according to YSU.
The savings resulting from those retirements would amount to $7.84 million over that same period, based on filling positions with lower paid employees and some restructuring of departments.
That leaves a funding shortfall of just over $2 million.
The $1 million carried over from fiscal 2005 will cover half of that amount. The university hasn't announced how the rest of the shortfall will be funded.
gwin@vindy.com