Budget Balancing Committee (BBC)
The Budget Balancing Committee (BBC) is an advisory group of managers, professionals, and executives drawn from across the UWindsor campus community. The BBC was charged with brainstorming, assessing, evaluating, and recommending actions to balance the operating budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year, keeping in mind the obligation for long-term financial sustainability of the institution. The primary objective of the BBC was to present a set of recommendations to be included in the 2024/25 base operating budget for Provost Budget Committee (PBC) consideration. The Committee’s assigned mandate was to identify not less than $5M in savings that could be realized in fiscal 2024/25.
Action Items Leading to 2024/25 Budget Savings
After careful consideration, PBC has accepted the following budget balancing action items from the BBC resulting in $5.6 million in savings:
- Implement a realignment (1.5% of eligible salary + benefit budgets)
- Divest base operating budget funding from profit-oriented units
- Increase typical Activity Base Budget (ABB) reduction targets; decrease typical ABB investment
- Increase ancillary department overhead contributions to operating
- Reduce all institutional administrative travel budgets by 20%
Action Items Requiring Further Investigation
In addition to the action items being employed to balance the 2024/25 operating budget, the BBC identified several items where process reviews, policy changes, collective bargaining, and further investigation is required before implementing changes could set the institution on a path towards longer-term financial sustainability. In many cases these action items are already underway within various departments more directly responsible for their undertaking. However, there is an opportunity to create further efficiencies and develop enhanced awareness of these cost-saving activities. To this end, the PBC has taken stock of these ideas and will be forming a committee to investigate their status. Where appropriate, action will be taken to initiate the required changes and report back to the PBC.