{"id":3258,"date":"2010-05-21T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T15:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=3258"},"modified":"2010-05-27T08:33:45","modified_gmt":"2010-05-27T13:33:45","slug":"ontario-budget-contained-a-boost-for-brock%e2%80%99s-financial-challenges-town-hall-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2010\/05\/ontario-budget-contained-a-boost-for-brock%e2%80%99s-financial-challenges-town-hall-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario budget contained a boost for Brock\u2019s financial challenges: Town Hall meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President

President Jack Lightstone takes questions from the floor during a May 19 Town Hall meeting, which keeps the Brock community updated on the budget process.<\/p><\/div>\n

Unexpected good news from the Ontario government, an enrolment jump and efficiency efforts by Brock\u2019s faculties and departments all helped slash $4 million from the university\u2019s projected operating deficit for the coming fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The cumulative effect of those and other factors mean the university is expected to end fiscal 2010-11 with an in-year operating deficit of $7.7 million, as opposed to $11.7 million that had been earlier forecast.<\/p>\n

That was a key message heard by 200 faculty and staff at a Town Hall meeting in the David S. Howes Theatre on May 19, where Brock President Jack Lightstone gave an update on the University\u2019s 2010-11 budget.<\/p>\n

Lightstone told the audience that the biggest change in the 2010-11 outlook resulted from the March 25 provincial budget, which included $1.1 million of additional Basic Income Unit funding for Brock\u2019s enrolment increases, plus nearly $1.1 million in an unexpected quality funding grant.<\/p>\n

Besides using some of the improved revenues to shrink the deficit, he said, officials are investing nearly $1.4 million into the University\u2019s base budget, including $500,000 for undergraduate entrance scholarships, $326,000 for graduate fellowships and $150,000 for library acquisitions.<\/p>\n

This spring\u2019s exercise to draft the 2010-11 budget is the second year in what is expected to be a four-year plan to eliminate the gap between revenues and expenses in the annual operating budget, and pay down accumulated operating debt.<\/p>\n

In an effort to improve finances through growth rather than cuts, University officials have asked faculty and staff to find ways to grow revenues and\/or reduce expenditures in each year of the program, largely through innovative pedagogies and other strategies that can support moderate enrolment growth and still enhance the student experience.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s target for efficiencies was 5 per cent of the base operating budget, and 5.7 per cent was achieved. An improved revenue outlook saw this year\u2019s efficiency target lowered to 2 per cent, and that was again surpassed by about $350,000.<\/p>\n

See the President\u2019s full report on the Town Hall meeting at Town Hall meeting \u2014\u00a0May 19<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brock community was updated on the budget process during a May 19 Town Hall meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3258"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3260,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions\/3260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}