The athletics department, the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences and the department of Enrollment and Student Experience each overspent their fiscal year 2023-24 budget, President Timothy Caboni said Tuesday morning at a Staff Senate meeting.
Athletics and student experience also overspent last year, which contributed to the $11 million gap between revenue and expenses from fiscal year 2022-23.
The divisions that overspent in fiscal year 2023-2024 will have to “present” to the Budget Executive Committee, which Caboni said is in the process of gathering last year’s financial data. Those who overspent will be held accountable by the university in a transparent manner, he said.
“If you do that, you’re going to have to pay it back,” Caboni said.
According to Caboni, athletics was scheduled to “answer difficult, challenging questions” about their overspending from the Budget Executive Committee in a closed meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Caboni didn’t provide specific statistics on the overspending.
Caboni also told the Senate that the 2024-2025 budget is $4.3 million larger than last year’s. The university has gained almost $20 million in additional revenue in the last four years, he also said.
“In that context, some folks are like, ‘Where’s our budget problem?’” Caboni said. “We don’t have a budget problem. We have a spending challenge, and we’re addressing it directly.”
Caboni continued by saying that while he was proud that the Budget Executive Committee has worked to provide a 2% raise for faculty and staff each year for the last four years, the university can no longer “do 2% across-the-board raises.”
He said instead, he intends raises to serve as performance evaluations. Caboni provided the example of an employee receiving a 5% raise, which would signal high-performance work, whereas if an employee were to receive a 1% raise, it could signal they might need to do more.
In addition to budget issues, Caboni also announced that faculty and staff will receive five additional days of winter break. This announcement was followed by an email sent after the meeting.
“This decision reflects the importance we place on fostering a positive and supportive work environment and our continued efforts to enhance work/life harmony for each member of our WKU family,” Caboni wrote in the email.
Caboni also told the Senate that he understands they may feel unsupported due to a decrease in staffing in the clerical/secretarial, skilled crafts and service/maintenance departments.
According to the WKU Fact Book, there has been a loss of 89 clerical/secretarial employees, 21 skilled crafts employees and 23 service/maintenance employees over the last four years.
Caboni said changing work nature and evolving technologies have changed the need for clerical/secretarial employees at the front of every department. However, he said several service/maintenance positions are currently posted.
“We’re listening,” Caboni said to the Senate. “The organization appreciates you, and we’re going to work hard to make sure that we meet your needs and the institution’s needs.”
Content Editor Ali Costellow can be reached at [email protected].
