State budget finalized; employee pay plan next

The university received most of what it asked for in the state budget for various programs and projects during the next two years. Now the state is considering how much to pay university employees.

The UW Board of Regents has requested a 2.1 percent pay increase, retroactive to July 1, for all non-represented classified staff, academic staff and faculty. The recommendation includes another 2.1 percent increase Jan. 1, 2002.

Later this fall, the state Department of Employee Relations will submit its recommendation to the Legislature’s joint committee on employee relations for approval.

While funding for the Madison Initiative is lower than the $28 million the university requested, it is still enough to guarantee $20 million in matching dollars from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the UW Foundation. The public-private partnership is intended to strengthen UW–Madison as it provides students an outstanding education and helps Wisconsin expand its competitiveness in the global economy

“The state’s investment, along with essential help from the private sector, will ensure that the second half of the four-year program leads to new jobs, new business development and a generation of college students better prepared for the high- quality jobs of the future,” says Chancellor John Wiley .

The funding for Madison Initiative allows the university to add 130 positions.

The budget further boosts student learning in the biosciences by providing $158 million during 10 years to build all four proposed BioStar buildings. With the help of private matching funds, BioStar funds an addition to the Biotechnology Center, a new microbial sciences building, a biochemistry building upgrade and an interdisciplinary biology building.

“With the state’s commitment, we will modernize teaching and research space for the biosciences, keeping the university at the forefront of biotechnology research,” Wiley says. “Along with the Madison Initiative, it lays a solid foundation for the state’s biotechnology business sector.”

The budget also provides either money or borrowing authority for several other building projects, including:

• Chamberlin Hall renovation.
• Camp Randall Stadium renovation.
• Phase three of University Ridge Golf Course.
• Planning for the University Health Services/Student Activity Center.
• Large animal facilities at Arlington Bookhout Farm.
• Weeks Hall addition.
• New Meat/Muscle Science Laboratory.
• New Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
• Planning for the Mechanical Engineering renovation and addition project.