The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

University discusses budget in annual Power Hour presentation

University discusses budget in annual Power Hour presentation - The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

File Photo: The front view of the Central Academic Building at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Oct. 17, 2019. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University-San Antonio Flickr

Texas A&M University-San Antonio had its annual Power Hour presentation to discuss its budget April 26 in the Vista Room. The business affairs department went over the budget for the upcoming fiscal year including the use of reserves and addressed the budget deficit

Kathy Funk-Baxter, vice president of business affairs, said there was an in-depth presentation of the university’s revenue and expense budgets. 

“We also said some information about each of our executive divisions and how the expenditures line out for the university in terms of by executive division,” Funk-Baxter said. 

Funk-Baxter said the budget is designed in accordance with A&M-San Antonio’s strategic plan

“We went over some of our guiding principles when we were laying out our budget to follow our strategic plan,” she said. “We try to align our budget to our strategic plan as far as goals.”

“I’d say that we’ve had several opportunities for individuals to come and have a deeper and better understanding of our budget,” she said.

Faculty members have expressed concern over the university’s transparency in regard to the budget shortfall. Funk-Baxter said the university has held presentations with faculty and staff to discuss the budget. 

“I’d say that we’ve had several opportunities for individuals to come and have a deeper and better understanding of our budget,” she said. “We had a faculty town hall and we solicited any questions that were about our budget at that town hall.”

In addition, the use of reserves was also addressed in response to the budget deficit. 

“We discussed our use of our reserves and what they were being used for,” she said. “It was a strategic decision, and our board approved in ‘22 the use of reserves and we also displayed our ‘23 budget. We are going to use reserves again… but at a much lower level than what we previously have.”

Funk-Baxter said about $2.7 million in reserves will be used during the next fiscal year.

The Power Hour presentation also went over the University Resource Commission meetings.

The URC held 10 different meetings this year; Funk-Baxter said this was the most amount of meetings the commission has had.

The URC is made up of faculty, staff and administrators. The commission met more frequently this year to talk in-depth about the budget. It also makes recommendations regarding “various budget assumptions and principles,” according to the Power Hour presentation, which are later shared with President Matson. 

The URC is involved with “decision-making aspects” of the budget, Funk-Baxter said.

Guests can email tristan.verley@tamusa.edu to attend future URC meetings.  

Funk-Baxter also said there was no increase in tuition fees. As a result, there is no new revenue in the budget for the ‘23 fiscal year.

Community members in attendance were given the opportunity to ask questions during the Power Hour presentation.

“There were questions related toward our process — of some of our budget process that we used,” Funk-Baxter said.

 

About the Author

Daisy Gonzalez-Quezada
Daisy Gonzalez-Quezada is a communication senior at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She transferred from Allen County Community College in Kansas in 2019. In her spare time, she likes to listen to music and watch either sitcoms or K-dramas. She wants to explore the world as a journalist after graduating.

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