Re: 2022-2023 Budget Call Update
To: Faculty and staff
July 14, 2022
Colleagues,
In May, UC Merced completed its 2022-2023 budget call cycle. As you may recall, the term refers to the formal process of campus leaders proposing resource and personnel expenditures for their units based on projected needs; it was the first budget call process at UC Merced in more than a decade.
Based on this process, assessing requests against the needs of our campus and the fulfilment of our mission, we have allocated approximately $2.69 million in new funds to support operations — primarily, for staff support in mission-essential areas across campus.
In addition, I have authorized $1.55 million in one-time funding to expand campus enrollment, support development efforts, and develop the long needed infrastructure for data collection and analysis so that we can continue to make better-informed decisions about our future.
The May 18 announcement to the campus described a 4.5% salary increase for non-represented staff and 4% for policy-covered academic appointees, effective July 1; this follows on the 3% increase we provided in summer 2021. Additionally, $400,00 was approved to address conspicuous market salary disparities beginning this year and next. My hope is to have the resources to maintain this effort beyond its initial pilot.
Finally, I have released $290,000 for STAR Awards to acknowledge the many staff who have made considerable efforts to support our university community.
Some of these decisions are of course subject to the final budget allocations provided under the recent state budget — as well as our fall enrollment. But I share these budget decisions to reinforce that UC Merced is committed to investing in the important people who have brought us this far, and the priorities that will take this university even further.
Interim CFO Kurt Schnier will host a campus-wide town hall on July 25 to share in more detail our budget process and outcomes. Please know that foremost in our thoughts and decisions as we approached the budget were the people who make up our magnificent Bobcat community.
Thank you for everything you do, every day, for UC Merced.
Sincerely,
Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Ph.D.
Chancellor
