The University of Hawaii plans to ask the Legislature for an extra $29 million for operations next academic year, including additional funds for the UH Cancer Center, initiatives around boosting graduation rates and research activities, and salary increases for graduate assistants.
The funds would add to the university’s base budget, which this fiscal year is roughly $432 million in state general funds. (With tuition and other revenue sources included, UH is a $1.3 billion operation.)
“What we are asking for here is for additional funding beyond that for particular areas that the university wants to support,” Kalbert Young, UH’s chief financial officer, told the members of the Board of Regents on Thursday. “This is structured much more strategically around budget themes.”
The single largest request is for a recurring $5 million appropriation for the UH Cancer Center to offset annual drops in the university’s share of the state’s cigarette tax, the research unit’s largest source of income.
The center had been using a faulty business plan that assumed its cigarette tax income would remain constant at $19 million per year. But as fewer people smoke, the tax revenues have dropped to between $13 million and $14 million a year since 2010. The center has been drawing down its reserve funds to stay afloat, but that cushion will be depleted by 2020.
Adding to the problem, UH in 2010 pursued building a $130 million facility for the Cancer Center in Kakaako using that outdated business plan. To pay for it, the state issued revenue bonds, which have saddled the center with an $8 million annual payment it can’t afford.
Dr. Randall Holcombe, the center’s newly hired director, said the center has already made considerable cuts to its budget. He added that although the center has generous philanthropic supporters, donors typically don’t want to fund operations; they’re interested in advancing new research or programs.
“There’s not enough fat to trim out of the operations of the center … to make up
$8 million,” he said. “That
$5 million … it will have to come from somewhere, otherwise we’ll continue to use our reserves, and 2020 will arrive and then the Legislature will have to decide whether they are going to put in $5 million or not. … We’re still going to work to balance our budget, but I’m still going to have a $5 million hole.”
Several regents acknowledged Holcombe has his work cut out for him at the Legislature. Lawmakers rejected a similar $5 million request from UH for the current fiscal year, citing the lack of a sustainable business plan.
“There’s at least several at the Legislature who don’t see the value of the Cancer Center, who don’t see the need to fund it, think it should be self-sufficient,” said regent Jeff Portnoy.
Holcombe, who officially started this month, said he’s already begun meeting with key lawmakers.
“I know I have to convince them,” he said. “We do some very unique things here. We’re the only place that really studies genetic diversity and how that relates to the development of cancer across different ethnic and racial groups. … In addition, our focus is very much on the cancer problems of the people of Hawaii, and as such I think we provide a fantastic resource.”
The center, a research unit of the flagship Manoa campus, has a mission of reducing the burden of cancer through research, education and patient care. More than 6,000 Hawaii residents are diagnosed with an invasive form of cancer every year, and some 2,000 die from the disease annually, making it the second leading cause of death in the state after heart disease.
The center is one of 69 from among 1,600 nationwide that carry the federal National Cancer Institute designation — a distinction that recognizes scientific leadership, resources and a broad range and depth of research. The designation gives UH an edge when competing for federal funds and recruiting researchers.
“The ($5 million) request is necessary to ensure a viable cancer center over the short and long term,” Young said.
Other items in the university’s budget request for next year include:
>> $2.85 million to increase base salaries for nonunionized graduate student assistants who teach at UH. Young said the request would increase the minimum base salary from Step 6 to Step 10 on the university’s pay scale, which for a nine-month employee would amount to a $3,000 increase to $20,000 from $17,000, not including tuition waivers.
UH Manoa’s Graduate Student Organization testified that although the increase would represent progress, it’s “far from the living wage in Honolulu.”
>> $4 million to support various programs that “drive student success,” such as advising, mentoring and early college programs for high school students. It also would go toward programs designed to support key populations such as veterans and Pacific islanders, and improve overall student graduation outcomes.
>> $3.5 million for research and innovation “to drive economic diversification and development while addressing the challenges facing Hawaii and the world”; $3.35 million to
support Native Hawaiian student success; and
$1.85 million to ensure compliance with the federal Title IX law, which bans gender discrimination.
The budget request was unanimously approved by the regents’ Budget and Finance Committee for recommendation to the full board. If approved at the board’s Nov. 17 meeting, the request would be submitted for consideration in Gov. David Ige’s budget proposal to the Legislature.
