The budget machete figures to get a workout as the University of Hawaii athletic department tries to pare approximately $4 million in requests from the budget it hopes to start the fiscal year with July 1.

The current fiscal year is projected to close June 30 with a $2 million deficit on spending of more than $30 million. UH has operated at a deficit for 10 of the past 12 years.

Athletic director Ben Jay said he hopes to rein in expenses so the 21-team department can start the next fiscal year with an operating budget of approximately $30 million.

Currently, Jay said, coaches and staff requests for FY 2015 are running about $34 million on the latest draft.

"The figure is huge right now," Jay said. "A lot of people threw their wish lists in there. It is kind of a gross budget, in that, I mean, it includes everybody’s requests."

Jay said, "I have to cut through it because, obviously, there are some things in there that we’re not going to be able to fund."

On his Twitter account, The Official Ben Jay @HawaiiManoaAD, Jay wrote, "Tiff (Kuraoka, assistant athletic director) gave me the latest draft of our 2014-15 UHAD budget to review. Suffice to say, w/o help, our team has a lot of work ahead of ourselves."

Jay said he planned to look the budget over during a 15-hour return Tuesday from the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors convention in Orlando, Fla.

"I’m getting a good look at it to see what immediately I can say ‘no’ to," Jay said.