Check, please! University waits for funds from state

The check is in the mail. At least that's what the state says. The University should have received its quarterly check from the Commonwealth a few days ago, but administrators said yesterday they are still patiently waiting for the money. They wait patiently because they said they don't expect the check any time soon -- the University just received a quarterly check from the state a few weeks ago for an appropriation which it should have received January 1. Because of the state's poor fiscal condition, the University's check -- as well as the appropriation checks for several other schools -- has been held up because the state did not have the money to pay it. The state plans to pay this quarter's appropriation, which was due on campus April 1, by the end of the month, a spokesperson for Governor Robert Casey said yesterday. And at least one quarterly check due in April, the one covering the University Museum's appropriation, arrived on campus yesterday, University Comptroller Alfred Beers said. But the state's three-month delay in paying the University and other non-state-related and state-related schools has caused administrators to be wary of state promises and given them another example of the state's worsening fiscal problems. During the three-month wait for the approximately $9 million check due January 1, the University paid bills it would have paid with the appropriation with its own cash reserves. Senior Vice President Marna Whittington estimated the University lost just under $200,000 in investment interest by spending the money to pay bills. Administrators did not tell departments and schools to cut back spending because the check was late, and the University paid its bills "in a timely fashion," Whittington said. Whittington said last night she is not yet panicked by the April check's tardiness. Having just received the January check a few weeks ago, she added she would not be surprised if another one is a few weeks late. But she added that she cannot remember the last time the state payment has been so tardy. Officials said the University is more likely to receive this payment closer to schedule because of increased revenues from income tax returns that have been coming in advance of the April 15 deadline. But the delayed checks concern a few University officials who worry the state is thinking of cutting back this year's University appropriation once again, after cutting it $1.3 million in January. University administrators say they have not been told officially of additional cutbacks as a possibility, and Casey spokesperson Sue Grimm said last night she could not comment on the situation. "You have to be concerned [about another state abatement]," Assistant Vice President for University Relations James Shada said yesterday. "As long as there's a deficit . . . we continue to worry." The state is mandated by its constitution to finishing each year without a deficit. But the University's plans to finish its fiscal year without a deficit would be altered dramatically if the University lost more state funding before the end of this fiscal year, Budget Director Stephen Golding said last night. The January abatement caused the University to project a deficit of over $1 million to the Trustees. But administrators both on campus and in Harrisburg wait and watch, knowing the University's appropriation's place as "non-preferred" makes it near the front of the line for long waits or possible cuts.

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