Aug. 3, 2009

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to announce that the mandatory furlough plan for Northern Arizona University has been finalized. More important, we can reduce the number of furlough days needed and still meet our expected budget for FY10.

Employees whose salaries are $40,000 a year or more in FY2010 will be responsible for taking three furlough days, while those employees whose salaries are less than $40,000 will be responsible for taking one furlough day.

The mandatory furlough plan applies to regular benefit-eligible faculty, administrators, academic professionals, classified staff and service professionals. Some grant-funded employees, graduate assistants, postdoctoral scholars and employees on H1-B visas may be affected differently. I encourage you to consult the Human Resources web site at hr.nau.edu/m/content/view/1097/668/ for details on the furlough plan.

While the Arizona Legislature remains in special session to resolve an FY10 budget, NAU is able to finalize the furlough plan for this year because Gov. Jan Brewer has announced that the university’s portion of the federal stimulus funds should be released next week. The university expended significant funds in FY09 to reduce layoffs and postpone furloughs. Now that we expect to receive the first stimulus payment to offset these FY09 costs, the university is able to mitigate the number of furlough days for FY10. Had the university not received reimbursement of these funds, we would have had to pursue a combination of larger layoffs and furloughs, reduced programs and services for our students and passed on a larger share of the cost of higher education to students and their families.

The university continues to work on critical investments necessary in FY10 within the constraints of not having a final FY10 state budget.  We greatly appreciate the leadership of Governor Brewer in applying for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds on behalf of the state of Arizona as well as her support for education. 

I will continue to work with campus on our FY10 priorities for the university as we maximize use of the one-time stimulus funds but also acknowledge the reality of a reduced base budget.  If you have any comments or thoughts on the stimulus funds or other budget issues, send them to me at budgetinfo@nau.edu.  Despite our budgetary challenges, the Northern Arizona University community continues to keep the needs of our students at the forefront. For that and for your hard work, sacrifice and support, I thank you.

Sincerely,