MUSC to handle cuts with furloughs

The Medical University of South Carolina said Monday that 1,200 of its 5,000 employees will be furloughed for four days to help absorb the nearly $17 million shortfall in state appropriations. 
 

A "handful" of employees will be laid off in departments that could not make reductions any other way, MUSC President Ray Greenberg said. The number of positions terminated will be about 10, Greenberg indicated, and the majority of those will be temporary employees.

More details will be announced about the layoffs after approval by state officials in Columbia, which will take about a month, he said. The terminations are expected to save $329,957.

Last month, state lawmakers cropped a total of $488 million from the state's $7 billion spending plan for 2008-09, including a $123 million cut to public universities and technical colleges.

The most recent cuts brought the cumulative state funding reduction to MUSC to $16.8 million. Earlier this month, Clemson University announced that each employee would have to take off five unpaid days to help pay for $25 million in budget cuts. The University of South Carolina hasn't announced its plans for dealing with a $37 million budget reduction.

"There has been a tremendous amount of anxiety on campus about how we were going to deal with this," said Greenberg, who is taking an eight-day voluntary furlough.

The plan announced Monday will account for about $7.5 million of the shortfall, with earlier measures, such as hiring freezes and reducing expenditures, travel and nonessential renovation projects, making up the rest.

Greenberg tasked the university's six colleges and administrative units to create internal plans to reduce spending to make up for the budget shortfalls.

Since state money is unlikely to be recouped, Greenberg said turning to savings to make up the difference was inappropriate.

He asked administrators to prepare for an additional 5 percent cut on top of state cuts already ordered. Already, 2 percent of that padding is expected to be cut by the Legislature in January. Cost-cutting measures include postponing buying equipment and forgoing nonessential employee training.

"Given that almost two-thirds of our expenditures go to support personnel, there is no way to reduce our spending without impacting employees," said MUSC Vice President for Finance Lisa Montgomery.

Those who work in clinical settings treating patients are not subject to furlough. Also exempt are research positions, which actually bring in money from other funding sources, said Dr. Jerry Reves, MUSC vice president for Medical Affairs.

Monthly paid employees will have a reduction equal to one day of pay for each month from January through April. Bi-weekly employees will have each of their 11 pay checks beginning January reduced equally to account for the four days of leave.

Nearly 300 employees have agreed to voluntary furloughs or pay cuts, including many senior administrators. Also, a fund is being established to help those most vulnerable to the unpaid leave.

"It is a big deal to employees who are living at the edge financially," Greenberg said. "We don't take any single day of furlough here lightly."