On May 25, 2015 the Board of Governors approved the University’s 2015-2016 budget. In his message the Vice-President of Resources states that: “the University has adopted a series of measures to reduce spending by $10.4 million, limit expenditure growth and a number of one-time cost reductions.” Furthermore, the Vice-President goes on to claim that the University will have to “further its efforts to balance the budget over the coming years, regardless of the challenges that this entails.”
As the APUO has demonstrated on several occasions previously, the University’s financial position has been and continues to be extraordinarily strong: for more than a decade now the University has been predicting a budget deficit, which has not been borne out in reality. In fact, there has been an average annual difference between budgeted and actual deficits/surpluses of over $63.5 million, which is demonstrated in the following figure.
|
|
Budgeted surplus/deficit |
Actual surplus/deficit |
Difference |
|
2002-2003 |
-6,314 |
26,637 |
32,951 |
|
2003-2004 |
-6,784 |
31,774 |
38,558 |
|
2004-2005 |
1,470 |
49,932 |
48,462 |
|
2005-2006 |
-48,024 |
59,750 |
107,774 |
|
2006-2007 |
-45,429 |
103,402 |
148,831 |
|
2007-2008 |
-4,138 |
52,055 |
56,193 |
|
2008-2009 |
-9,349 |
16,893 |
26,242 |
|
2009-2010 |
-22,177 |
63,189 |
85,366 |
|
2010-2011 |
-26,826 |
41,466 |
68,292 |
|
2011-2012 |
-35,408 |
28,158 |
63,566 |
|
2012-2013 |
-51,830 |
-1,485 |
50,345 |
|
2013-2014 |
-20,677 |
15,275 |
35,952 |
Source: uOttawa Audited Financial Statements 2003-2014
While the Vice-President of Resources may recommend that “we will have to ensure strict management of our expenditures throughout the year and take major steps to maintain our financial position in the coming years”, this should not be at the cost of the University’s raison d’être, which is to provide a quality research-based learning experience for our students.
Sincerely,
The APUO Executive Committee