Some of Ohio University’s top financial administrators will explain how they plan the budget for the institution this week.
Two open forums will be hosted by Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit and Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding, who will discuss the university’s large expenditures, including construction projects, faculty raises and endowment investments.
The forums, which will take place at different times on Tuesday and Wednesday, will begin with how — and which — projects are prioritized for funding.
Those making those decisions will also be leading the discussions, such as the university’s Budget Director Chad Mitchell and John Day, associate provost for academic budget and planning.
Those in attendance can ask budget questions, or submit them online at OU’s Budget Planning and Analysis website, www.ohio.edu/finance/bpa/, where the Tuesday forum will also be streamed live.
“The idea is to get a lot of the on-campus part of the discussion done before term’s over,” Day said.
The Budget Planning Council, an organization of faculty, staff and students, will make its recommendations to OU President Roderick McDavis for the 2015 fiscal year after its last meeting of this academic year April 18.
“The forum is just informational,” Day said.
McDavis previously said he will announce the budget the university is recommending to the Board of Trustees before this year’s commencement ceremony. That budget would include 2014-15 academic year tuition and fee rates.
“We do (this budget approval) in June, not because the students are not here, but because we want to give the campus enough time to have input into whatever decision the campus is going to make,” McDavis said in a previous Post article. “We believe it was better to be transparent, it was better to allow for more discussion, than to be less transparent and have less discussion before we propose to the board.”
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