University of Maryland President Darryll Pines Talks COVID-19 Financial Impact, Salary Reductions
University of Maryland president Darryll Pines held a virtual meeting with students, faculty and alumni on Thursday afternoon as he and others within the administration revealed the financial impact on the university budget.
Pines highlighted that the effect on the fiscal 2021 campus budget are “significant” and is projected to be $291.6 million with a third of the budget dedicated to state-supported losses while the remainder tied to auxiliary units and other non-state activities. “The future is uncertain with this crisis and the future outlook for state funding is challenging,” Vice President for Administrative and Finance Carlo Colella added. Pines also announced he has voluntarily agreed to a 15% salary reduction while effective September 27, all employees with annual salaries greater than $150,000 will receive temporary salary reductions with gradual reduction ranging from 0% to 10%. Salaries and fringes represent 64% of the $2.3 billion current funds budget for fiscal year 2020, but Pines added the salary reduction will lead 90% of the university’s employee workforce to see no reduction.
Maryland also noted a handful of mitigation strategies to minimize the financial impact of COVID-19 ahead of the 2021 fiscal year:
· Implemented hiring freeze
· Restricted non-essential travel for all university employees as health and safety measure, and cost-saving measure
· Reduced energy load on physical plant, resulting in some cost savings
· Utilized portion of university fund balance reserves to offset COVID related revenue losses and expense increases
· Implemented permanent budget reduction in state supported activities of 5% for fiscal year 2021
· Reduced facilities renewal expenditures
· Reduced other central budget allocations
The lack of additional revenue due to the cancellation of fall sports was noted, while a numerical loss for the athletic department was not provided on Thursday. Meanwhile, training across Maryland athletics remains suspended until the results from Tuesday’s round of COVID testing has been received. Maryland announced a total of 63 positive cases to-date across 2,191 tests, but a recent string of 46 positive cases spanning across ten sports teams put a halt to all practice.
As Maryland athletics remains diligent in containing the spread in a rejuvenated effort to play fall sports with an amended schedule this fall, Pines added that testing on campus will begin on September 15 following the resumption of in-person classes.
