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Department of English
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TO: Faculty Senate
FROM: Faculty Welfare Committee
DATE: 24 February 2009
SUBJECT: Proposed increase in fees for parking permits
Prior to his January appearance before the Faculty Senate, Associate Vice
Chancellor Koch met with the Faculty Welfare Committee to inform the committee
of a proposed policy change to the waiting list for those seeking to purchase
an “A” permit and of a proposed increase in fees for parking permits that is
scheduled to take place in July 2009.
Since that time, it has become apparent to members of the Faculty Welfare
Committee that university employees face the probability of no raises in the
coming year, as well as the probability of significant changes in the costs
associated with health care: increases in co-payments, deductibles, coinsurance
maximums, and costs of medications and medical supplies for all employees; and
increases in payment for coverage of dependents for employees insuring others.
Moreover, in his presentation before the Faculty Welfare Committee, Mr.
Koch indicated that the fee change was needed in order to increase the money in
the Parking Reserves; under a scenario that the fee increase would be
implemented over a two-year period (with each year’s increase being 50% of the
total amount), in the first year (FY 09/10) the amount added to the Reserves
would be $227,851, while $405,271 would be added in subsequent years. The five-year financial plan presented by Mr.
Koch, however, shows a transfer of over $200,000 in 09/10 for “Police/Admin.
Fees”—an expenditure that apparently was initiated for FY 08/09.
The Faculty Welfare Committee is still unclear as to why fees from parking permits are
now being diverted to “Police/Admin. Fees”; clearly, if those fees were not
being re-allocated, the current fee structure would be sufficient to fund most
of the projected increase in Parking Reserves for the coming fiscal year.
A possible use of the Parking Reserves that Mr. Koch cited is
implementation of planning for a Parking Deck in FY 11/12, with construction
beginning in FY12/13. Yet, it is unclear
where such a Parking Deck would be located, who would use it, and what the
total construction costs would be. Given
the severity of the current financial crisis, the Faculty Welfare Committee
believes that a Parking Deck should be very low on any prioritized list of
needed university construction.
In sum, university employees already face increased health costs in the
coming year and no increase in their
salaries; yet, the possible uses of funds raised by an increase in fees for parking
permits are not well-defined or clearly justified.
Accordingly, the Faculty Welfare Committee strongly recommends that the
Parking and Transportation Committee and the university’s administration
reconsider its plans to increase the fees for parking permits for the coming two
academic years.