It is too early to tell what effect Gov. Mike Pence’s call for 2 percent cuts on budgets will have at Indiana University and Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington.
There is no doubt, however, that it was surprising to officials at each higher ed institution when news of reduced funding from the state came Monday.
IU spokesman Mark Land repeatedly called the news “a challenge” Tuesday, especially after calls by Pence for $1 billion in tax cuts and new spending on roads. The university based its lowest tuition increase in more than three decades on the $470 million operating budget granted by the state, Land said, but Pence’s order, which comes after a tax shortfall from the state of $141 million, will reduce the university’s budget by about $10 million over the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Pence’s plan also asks state agencies to reduce spending by 1.5 percent, while the governor’s office will relinquish an airplane believed to be valued at around $2.5 million in an effort to mitigate the state’s losses by $57 million.
© 2024 HeraldTimesOnline, Bloomington, IN