NoDak budget woes

[Jacked_Up]

From Prairie Business Magazine:

FARGO -- Administrators at North Dakota State University are considering axing the university studies program as part of their budget paring under plans taking shape for 2017-19. ...
The state university system has compiled plans from the 11 public campuses calling for the elimination of about 490 positions, assuming a budget that has been reduced by 10 percent.

http://www.prairiebusinessmagazine.c...ersity-studies

[slosho]

Re: NoDak budget woes

Maybe the should threaten to get rid of football if donors don't pony up extra money to cover shortfalls.

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[jack power]

Re: NoDak budget woes

Maybe the should threaten to get rid of football if donors don't pony up extra money to cover shortfalls.

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They should threaten to get did of hockey. The money would flow in then.......either that or they would burn down the University.

[slosho]

Re: NoDak budget woes

They should threaten to get did of hockey. The money would flow in then.......either that or they would burn down the University.

@ndsu?

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[jack power]

Re: NoDak budget woes

@ndsu?

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lol I thought this was more of UND budget woes. I'll be quiet now....

[Hammersmith]

Re: NoDak budget woes

lol I thought this was more of UND budget woes. I'll be quiet now....

It's the whole system. North Dakota tax revenue is something like $1.5B below initial projections for the 2015-17 biennium. And the 2017-19 biennium is looking even worse. We had to cut 4% from the current budget back in February, had to cut another 2.5% in August, and are demanding a 10% reduction on 2017-19 future budgets from the original 2015-17 budgets.

NDSU was able to absorb the initial cuts without too much problem thanks to just having recovered from a previous budget crisis. NDSU had just started to increase budgets again, so all they really had to do was dial back to where they were before. And boy were people(UND & some state Repubs) mad that NDSU wasn't hurt worse.

UND was in far more trouble since they started the year with a $5M budget shortfall because the state wouldn't let them raise tuition as much as they wanted. The cuts also came at a bad time because they applied to a massive construction project that was well underway(med school). That meant the money for those cuts had to come out of other budgets. Altogether, it was really nasty.

For the upcoming biennium, NDSU will be lightly hurt and UND will be hurt a bit worse. UND had hoped they had made enough cuts back in February to get them through the 10% upcoming cut, but it hasn't worked out as well as they'd hoped. Word from people in the know is that another round of cuts is coming. At NDSU, buyout incentives, leaving open positions unfilled, and cutting back on part-time hours will get the job done. It will hurt a bit, but it doesn't look like anyone will be let go or any programs cut. Again, certain people are pissed that NDSU isn't seeing dramatic pain from this. Ho-hum for ND.

[goon]

Re: NoDak budget woes

It's the whole system. North Dakota tax revenue is something like $1.5B below initial projections for the 2015-17 biennium. And the 2017-19 biennium is looking even worse. We had to cut 4% from the current budget back in February, had to cut another 2.5% in August, and are demanding a 10% reduction on 2017-19 future budgets from the original 2015-17 budgets.

NDSU was able to absorb the initial cuts without too much problem thanks to just having recovered from a previous budget crisis. NDSU had just started to increase budgets again, so all they really had to do was dial back to where they were before. And boy were people(UND & some state Repubs) mad that NDSU wasn't hurt worse.

UND was in far more trouble since they started the year with a $5M budget shortfall because the state wouldn't let them raise tuition as much as they wanted. The cuts also came at a bad time because they applied to a massive construction project that was well underway(med school). That meant the money for those cuts had to come out of other budgets. Altogether, it was really nasty.

For the upcoming biennium, NDSU will be lightly hurt and UND will be hurt a bit worse. UND had hoped they had made enough cuts back in February to get them through the 10% upcoming cut, but it hasn't worked out as well as they'd hoped. Word from people in the know is that another round of cuts is coming. At NDSU, buyout incentives, leaving open positions unfilled, and cutting back on part-time hours will get the job done. It will hurt a bit, but it doesn't look like anyone will be let go or any programs cut. Again, certain people are pissed that NDSU isn't seeing dramatic pain from this. Ho-hum for ND.

All the oil money dry up? thought you guys a few years ago were as a state plenty of money left in the budget. I know the oil obviously is not what it was at its boom, but figured the money would have lasted a little bit longer.

[Hammersmith]

Re: NoDak budget woes

All the oil money dry up? thought you guys a few years ago were as a state plenty of money left in the budget. I know the oil obviously is not what it was at its boom, but figured the money would have lasted a little bit longer.

It's basically everything. Spending had been massively going up for the previous few years, so we have a lot further to fall. Oil prices dropped so we lost extraction tax money. Oil companies have bought our politicians, so taxes were reduced. Due to the oil prices falling, construction halted, so sales and use taxes dried up. Commodity prices are way down, so those tax revenues have been hit as well. It's really a perfect storm situation.

The oil is still there, so production will return when/if prices get above $50/barrel again. If prices get back to the $75/barrel range, the boom will restart. Until then, we'll be limping along.

[slosho]

Re: NoDak budget woes

Glad To have our state ran the way it is.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: NoDak budget woes

Thanks for the explanation, Hammersmith. I figured oil had to factor into the situation somehow. In South Dakota, the regents and legislators make schools raise private funding for needed academic facilities, like a science lab at SDSU. There probably isn't much public funding to cut any more. North Dakota, as I understand it, earmarks a portion of its sales tax revenue to public universities. South Dakota doesn't do that, but that's a nice show of support for higher education.

[Jacks-02]

Re: NoDak budget woes

An indication of how much pain there is in the North Dakota oil patch is that at this time in 2014 there were 196 oil rigs drilling, in 2015 there were 68 and today there are 34.

I've seen studies that say there are up 350 associated jobs per rig, meaning ND has lost a TON of very high paying jobs in the last two years. So it's not just the oil extraction tax revenues that have taken a big hit, but all of the other taxes and fees from the economic activity it creates have been hit as well.

[Cowbell]

Re: NoDak budget woes

North Dakota was the talk of the country a few years ago because of their low unemployment and the fracking boom. Many people envied them, now, not so much. As for the coffee talk in North Dakota, fracking has now been replaced by Carson Wentz.

[Nidaros]

Re: NoDak budget woes

The boom and bust happened before. In the early 1980's I Believe. This boom is bigger and is followed with a bigger bust.

[filbert]

Re: NoDak budget woes

North Dakota was the talk of the country a few years ago because of their low unemployment and the fracking boom. Many people envied them, now, not so much. As for the coffee talk in North Dakota, fracking has now been replaced by Carson Wentz.

People all around FCS have said "Frackin' Carson Wentz!!!" for years, you know.

[West-River_Jack]

Re: NoDak budget woes

The boom and bust happened before. In the early 1980's I Believe. This boom is bigger and is followed with a bigger bust.

I am a bit slow to respond, but Nidaros, you use the phrase "bigger bust" as if that is a bad thing.