The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

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Board of Trustees to approve 2006 budget proposals

Budget proposals will be the hot ticket item on the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting agenda today.

The Board of Trustees will meet at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield to discuss and approve the budget proposal for fiscal year 2006, among other things.

According to John Haller, vice president for Academic Affairs, proposals for the Resource Allocation and Management Program are due to the Illinois Board of Higher Education in August.

RAMP requests include monies for planning, capital and operation costs.

According to BOT chairman Glenn Poshard, the proposal is system-wide, including SIUC, SIUE and the SIU School of Medicine.

The SIU system will be requesting more than $28.4 million for planning and operations costs for fiscal year 2006 and $28.4 million for capital costs.

Haller said because of the current fiscal crisis the state is facing, the University is not expecting to get all of what it is asking for.

"This is our wish list," he said. "We perfectly realize the situation the state is in and we don't expect the state to allocate all of these dollars. But if we don't ask, it won't happen."

Capital requests for the Carbondale campus include $34.6 million for the construction of a transportation center located at Southern Illinois Airport. The transportation center is a part of the re-structuring of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, which was approved by the Faculty Senate last month. Also included in this request is $41.6 million for the construction of a science laboratory at SIUE, which is listed as a number one priority on the proposal.

Poshard said the proposal is prioritized, based on what the board thinks is of more importance. He said once the proposal reaches the IBHE, it is further prioritized with proposals from other state institutions.

The BOT is expecting to meet with members of the IBHE in September to discuss the requests.

Poshard said the University is proposing a flat budget, the same amount of money as last year, in hopes of offsetting cutbacks. He said, however, a flat budget would not guarantee financial stability because of rising operation and material costs.

Poshard said consistent cutbacks in state allocated funds have afflicted the University, prohibiting it from providing competitive salaries and student support.

"We've been cut back several million [dollars] over the last couple of years," he said. "Cutbacks in the budget have been severe. It makes it more difficult to provide the kinds of salary increases people deserve and monetary support for students."

Poshard said the University has not yet approved a budget for fiscal year 2005. He said the University is waiting for the state to compile its budget before doing so.

Other matters on the board's agenda include the approval for the executive committee to authorize contracts on a second round of construction bids for the addition to Lingle Hall, which houses athletics and is attached to the arena.

In the spring of 2003, SIUC alumnus Thomas Wittman donated $4.5 million to Saluki Athletics, $3 million of which is to be used for new locker rooms and an academic center. Poshard said the original bids were higher than expected.