Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

Matthew Dulin        Ray Hafner       Geronimo Rodriguez
         Shaun Salnave          Cara Sarelli

Budget blues

If youive been paying attention, you know by now that Governor Rick Perry has ordered all state agencies to reduce spending for fiscal year 2003 by at least 7 percent of their general budget.

To UH, this means a cut of nearly $11.4 million with only seven months left in the fiscal year and the Spring semester already 16 days old.

UH President Arthur K. Smith stated in his message to the University community his intentions to make the necessary cuts "in ways that minimize ... the impact on the breadth and quality of the instructional and academic support services" provided to students. This is in line with Gov. Perryis command to "minimize impact on direct services."

Smith and Vice President John Rudley have made a large portion of the required cut already, mostly through deferred maintenance and postponed construction.

Donit worry -- construction projects funded by private donors will continue, so the library will be finished on time (or at least on time for UH, which has little to do with projected completion date).

Deferred maintenance, though, is something to worry about. Repairs that arenit necessary to comply with safety regulations will be postponed until thereis more money around to pay for them.

This doesnit seem too bad at first -- if it doesnit need fixing badly enough that itis unsafe, itis probably OK to leave it, right? The problem is that situations that may cost a little to repair now will cost a lot later on as they deteriorate. Think of it as the opposite of preventative maintenance.

Unfortunately, itis one of the best -- or least bad -- options available right now. Itis also, thankfully, taking care of $8.1 million of the necessary cuts.

The other $3.3 million is being passed on to the Universityis vice presidents, the Department of Athletics and the Office of the President to fix on their own. Smith made this decision in order to leave the cuts -- now only 2 percent of each departmentis budget -- up to the judgment of those who know best what theyire cutting.

While this will make for some difficult decisions for department heads, itis definitely a good decision. Smith could be the best informed president this University has ever had and still be unable to make cuts as good as those made by people who are closer to the situation than he.

Those cuts will hopefully be made wisely, in ways that minimize the negative effects on students (the reason UH is here, after all), faculty and staff of the University.
 

The environment was at the center of this controversy. Rather than tackle the true source of the problem (the fact that Houston is a mecca for refineries), the TNRCC elected to solve our environmental woes by dropping the speed limit by 15 miles per hour. Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu