Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 21, 2004, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2004 Budget battles come to end UNC system spared large budget cuts STAFF AND WIRE REPORT RALEIGH, N.C. Legislative leaders agreed July 16 on a $15.8 billion spending package for the year, giving a boon to schools in the UNC system that had feared the worst. Co-speakers Jim Black and Richard Morgan and Senate leader Marc Basnight worked out about the half-dozen policy differences that couldn’t be solved by other negotiators, but most of the signif icant policy and funding changes for the fiscal year that began July 1 were worked out during the previ ous three weeks of negotiations. Among the changes were those to the education budget, which includes the spending plan for the UNC system. “Everything seems to be on track,” said Black, D- Mecklenburg. As expected, the budget allots roughly $64 million to the system to fully fund enrollment growth for an estimated 7,458 new students. It also does not act on tuition hikes at all 16 system campuses, so the increases originally approved by the system’s Board of Governors will go into effect. At UNC-Chapel Hill, increases in tuition and fees for the 2004-05 school year total $366.50 for in state students and $1,616.50 for t v g Cuii u rlvo you I I(JRR RVUIf fo CKO \jl ! VriRV ‘Hioliiur f 1 Bank of America announces Saturday hours. It’s not easy to squeeze your whole life between Monday and Friday. Which is why Bank of America banking centers all over town are now open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. giving you four precious, extra hours to open anew account, refinance your home, talk to a personal banker or just make a deposit. If life is a little hectic during the week, slow down and see us on Saturday at the banking center listed below. Bank of America the official bank of Saturday. Chapel Hill Main Office 137 East Franklin Street Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2004 Bank of America Corporation. _ . , _ . Sat-26-ad Bankor America Higher Standards jX %. You will recognize it as soon as you check in. A whole new kind of attitude -a whole new set of standards. Welcome to Sheraton. Call 919-968-49 00 or y° ur travel planner. Visit sheraton.com/chapelhill. Best rates, guaranteed. *" / . • ' MEMBER OF' STflftttOOD PBE'FEWRED GUEST out-of-staters. In addition, the system saw the smallest budget cuts it has received in recent years, with conferees from the House and Senate agree ing to slash the system’s funds by $22.6 million, or 1.47 percent. That figure is smaller than the House’s original proposal of 1.7 percent, or $24 million. And though the cuts come on top of years of similar reductions, system leaders expressed gratitude that they weren’t larger. “Of course, we would have been happy if there were no cuts, but... we know we’re part of the state system,” said Jane Helm, vice chancellor for business affairs at Appalachian State University, on July 8. The budget deal came two days after legislative leaders agreed to a borrowing plan that primarily will benefit UNC-system campuses. The package, passed by both chambers July 17, would issue as much as $3lO million in debt this year, with most of the proceeds funding projects at 12 of the 16 system campuses. The cornerstone of the debt package is renovation of the can cer center at UNC-CH and anew stroke and heart center at East Carolina University. The measure, which Gov. Mike Welcome Back DTH/GILLIAN BOLSOVER Co-speakers Jim Black and Richard Morgan dealt with discrepencies in the House and Senate figures to pass the budget during the summer session. Easley signed this month, would borrow $319 million this year and another $l5B million in the future. In addition, under the plan, state employees will see raises. In addition, Easley's K-12 pet proj ects, the More at Four program and the reduction of third-grade class sizes, are fully funded. Legislature OKs medical centers UNC cancer center among projects STAFF AND WIRE REPORT The N.C. General Assembly this summer approved a $468 million borrowing package for capital projects, most of which directly affect 12 of the 16 UNC-system campuses. The two chambers agreed July 17 to a plan that will issue $3lO million in debt this coming year and $l5B million in the future, including a total of SIBO million for anew cancer hospital at UNC- Chapel Hill. In addition, the bill allots S6O million for a heart and stroke cen ter at East Carolina University, $35 million each for a bioinformatics center at UNC-Charlotte and a wellness center at UNC-Asheville, and S2B million for a pharmacy school at Elizabeth City State University. “It does a great number of things to make this a better state to live,” said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland. On top of its major tenets, the package also gives smaller amounts of money to schools for various projects, including: ■ $lO million for a teaching and nursing center at Fayetteville State ahr Daily Sar Hppl University; ■ $lO million for an optometry school at UNC-Pembroke; ■ $lO million for a health consortium at Western Carolina University; ■ $lO million for Winston- Salem State University and the N.C. School of the Arts to buy prop erty; and ■ $lO for a Millennial Campus at N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University and UNC- Greensboro. Money also would go to buy state parkland and tracts near military installations to try to shield North Carolina from the Pentagon’s upcoming round of base closings. Gov. Mike Easley was in Chapel Hill on Aug. 5 to sign the bill, tout ing the new cancer hospital as a facility that will create jobs and increase the state's tax base. "The people need it. The people deserve it," Easley said. "That’s what North Carolina is about not getting by, but being the best, and we’re going to demon strate that with this facility." Several Republicans, especially those in areas that haven’t received capital money in the past, voted for the bill because they said it was time for their areas to reap some benefits. “Sometimes Santa Claus doesn’t come to the mountains,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, not ing that UNC-Asheville will receive S6O for anew health and well ness center and Western Carolina University S2O million to design a proposed aging research center. Annual debt service for the UNC system and youth prison projects would be repaid through two trust funds that receive a portion of North Carolina’s share of the national tobacco settlement. Three additional trust funds dedicated to conservation projects would repay the parkland and mili tary project debt with interest. g
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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