OHIO trustees approve FY2016 budget, capital plan

The Ohio University Board of Trustees approved the fiscal year 2016 budget and Capital Improvement Plan at meetings on the University’s Southern Campus.

Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit and Vice President for Finance and Administration Steve Golding reviewed the University’s FY 2016 budget at a joint meeting of the Resources and Academics committees Thursday morning. Officials built the financial document around University priorities and assumptions about the State of Ohio’s biennial budget that are in line with recommendations Gov. Kasich released earlier this year.    

The state legislature has yet to pass its biennial budget. Lawmakers have until June 30 to do so. The University has contingency plans in place should the state’s final budget differ significantly from these assumptions.

The budget presented to the Board illustrates the University’s progress toward creating a sustainable business model that supports OHIO’s core academic mission while confronting long-term funding challenges. These include the need to enhance financial aid, control student costs, encourage innovation and finance strategic initiatives.

Investments in employee compensation are likewise integrated into FY2016 with the inclusion of a 2 percent raise pool for faculty and staff. In addition, the University has budgeted an averaged 1.36 percent pool for the Faculty Compensation Initiative and a 1 percent pool as part of COMP 2014. Employee raises cannot be finalized until after the state budget is complete. However, if they are implemented as planned, it is expected that they will be retroactive to July 1.

This budget is also the first to incorporate The OHIO Guarantee, a comprehensive tuition model that ensures a student’s cost to attend OHIO – including tuition, room, board and most student fees – will hold constant for 12 consecutive semesters.

The FY 2016 Capital Improvement Plan addresses other top priorities for OHIO. The Board reviewed plans for the next year that detail current projects, upcoming major renovations, deferred maintenance priorities and investments in areas including capital and technological infrastructure.  OHIO will fund these projects with a combination of Century Bond funding, gifts, state money and other institutional resources.

The University prioritized the projects based on criteria such as financial feasibility, safety and compliance considerations, programmatic impact and long-term needs. The trustees will provide input into that last piece more completely in January with their review of the in-progress Comprehensive Master Plan.

Another element that will feed into the comprehensive planning process is the Ridges Framework Plan. According to Director of University Planning and Space Management Shawna Bolin and Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and Dean of the Graduate College Joseph Shields, the Ridges Framework Plan Committee and a team of consultants – in conjunction with other University and community partners – are focused on defining planning principles to guide development of the property in a way that respects its history while supporting the University’s mission.

The ultimate usage of the buildings and surrounding land at The Ridges will depend strongly on the needs determined by the Comprehensive Master Plan.  Space for academic programs, administrative offices, housing, recreation and retail businesses represent some of the possibilities. Once the University determines a vision for the future of The Ridges, the next steps will involve exploring financial options to make those plans a reality.

In other business, the Board approved:

• A resolution approving increases to the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (HCOM) instructional fee (4.8 percent); HCOM’s technology/medical resource fee (4.91 percent); regional campus lower division tuition at the Lancaster, Chillicothe and Zanesville campuses (1.96 percent); regional campus lower division tuition at the Eastern and Southern campuses (2 percent); and upper division tuition at all regional campuses (1.11 percent). The resolution also included the approval of fees for a handful of new, revised or renamed off-campus graduate programs; recommended new or increased student fees for the Athens and regional campuses; and a required reaffirming of the current fees for eLearning Undergraduate Programs and for Correctional Education.
• A resolution to approve the FY2016 Capital Improvement Plan.
• A resolution to approve the University’s FY2016 budget.
• Resolutions naming the four new Athens Campus residence halls Arthur D. Carr Hall; Evelyn Coulter Luchs Hall; Claude R. Sowle Hall; Tomoyasu and Sumiko Tanaka Hall.
• A resolution approving the total project budget for the Alden Library roof replacement and authorizing the University to undertake design for that project. The resolution also provides approval of the site plan for the Dublin Campus surface parking addition.  
• A resolution to authorize budget amendments for the Bush Airport maintenance plan: 7/25 runway rehabilitation; the College Green painting and wood repair; the Crawford Hall bathroom renovation; the Multiphase Corrosion Center office addition; the Read Hall roof replacement; the gas line upgrades and the temporary campus boilers. The resolution also approves construction for the Bentley Hall roof replacement; the Clippinger Hall roof replacement; the Morton Hall roof replacement; the Ohio University Eastern Health and Physical Education Center roof replacement and the establishment of an Emergency Campus Repairs Fund.
• A resolution to approve funding for emergency repairs to the Colleges of Fine Arts and Education Heating district, design through construction phases.
• A resolution authorizing capital spending for the Dublin Integrated Education Center.
• A resolution to approve an easement to AEP or its affiliate for construction and relocation of electric facilities along Richland Ave. in Athens.
• A resolution to approve a Policy on Affiliated Entities that will govern the creation of any corporations or other appropriate business entities that will be operated as entities separate from the University to pursue public purposes that are consistent with the University’s mission. The resolution also directs the president to provide the Board with an annual report on the activities of all affiliated entities.
• A resolution establishing a new affiliated entity, OHIO Transformation Group.
• A resolution to approve a list of Faculty Fellowship Awards.
• A resolution naming the faculty and administrators granted emeriti awards this year.
• A resolution appointing members to Regional Coordinating Councils at Chillicothe, Eastern, Lancaster, Southern and Zanesville.
• A resolution to establish the Barbara Geralds Schoonover Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact.
• A resolution to approve offering the Master of Education in Teaching and Learning in the Department of Teacher Education in the Patton College of Education.
• A resolution to approve offering the Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences by the Department of Geological Sciences through the Honors Tutorial College.
• Resolutions to change the name of the Rehabilitation Counseling program to the Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling program, and to change the name of the Department of Health Sciences and Professions to the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Studies. These programs are in the Patton College of Education and the College of Health Sciences and Professions, respectively.
• A resolution to accept the program reviews for the Department of History; the School of Nursing; the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; the Department of Civil Engineering; the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering; the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Resolutions to elect Roderick J. McDavis president of Ohio University and Steve Golding treasurer of Ohio University for the period beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2016.
• A resolution to offer David R. Moore the position of Secretary to the Board of Trustees and to negotiate and execute an appropriate employment agreement effective July 1.
• A resolution to authorize the University’s proposed audit plan.
• Resolutions to award honorary degrees to Cheryl J. Hurley, James M. Abraham and John Lewis Gaddis.