Budget saves by spending

Insurance against bad budgets has taken a new form at Cal State Long Beach: instead of tightening belts to prepay the next year's bills, the university has begun spending money on special, onetime projects that can be easily eliminated.

In response to a recommendation last spring by campus budget planners, President Robert Maxson reversed CSULB's fiscal policies this summer, setting aside $2 million for projects which do not impinge on future budgets. These one-time projects include increased faculty travel and the campus fiber-optics communication system.

No longer, CSULB budget officials say, will administrators tuck away money ($2 million yearly in recent years) to be invested in the following year's expenses. Although the practice has worked well as a buffer against recent budget cuts, the officials warn that savings may not always be easy to find.

"In a year when you don't have those kinds of savings materialize, you won't have carryover," said Ted Kadowaki, assistant vice president of Administration and Finance. Kadowaki said that deficiency would worsen the campus' ability to absorb cuts.

During CSULB's recent budget crisis, savings have come from retirements and efforts to cut down utility bills.

The California State University system did not allow carryover funds until 1994. Budget planners avoided violating the CSU policy in the past by paying upcoming bills at the end of the year.

Kadowaki said that Maxson's new approach does not discourage campus departments from saving their money. It simply discourages reliance on extensive, campuswide savings.

"If we don't have to spend all of our money by some magical date, hopefully we can spend it more wisely," he said. "On the other hand, we don't want to penalize someone for saving money."