University of Hawaii athletic programs face bleak prospects for supplemental budget assistance in the final days of the state legislative session, an analysis suggests.
Neither the House nor the Senate budget versions currently list any of the supplemental funding for athletics the university had sought, according to an analysis by the school. UH had requested $3 million for Manoa and $560,000 for Hilo in its overall $16.2 million request to the legislature.
Most of that was to help underwrite travel, a major part of what UH athletic director David Matlin described as $5.2 million in expenses “unique” to UH due to its geographic location. Without those expenses, Matlin has said athletics would run in the black instead of the current $4.2 million deficit.
Prior to the start of the session, Gov. David Ige’s supplemental budget had not included any of of the funds UH has requested for athletics.
And while $15 million “to renovate and repair athletic facilities” is still in the State House capital improvements budget, according to analysis by Kalbert Young, UH vice president for budget and finance and chief financial officer, it was not included in the Senate’s version.
In his overall analysis of the UH financial picture at the Legislature, Young said, “The supplemental budget is the biggest point of discussion for this week, as both the House Finance Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee meet in joint conference committee to deliberate their disagreements with each other’s draft of the budget and to eventually settle on funding and appropriation decisions for every state department and agency.”
Young cautioned, “Deliberations in conference committee can still leave many changes ahead. Nothing is guaranteed from any of the budget versions.”
UH receives about $428 million in state general funds, less than 1 percent of which goes directly to athletics.
Gov. Ige has said it is up to the university to prioritize the funds it does receive.
The legislative session adjourns May 5.