Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: August 13, 1998

UT System News Release

Regents Approve Budget for FY 1999

AUSTIN -- A $4.88 billion operating budget for fiscal year 1999 for the 15-campus University of Texas System was approved Thursday (August 13) by the Board of Regents.

The budget includes merit pay raises for faculty and staff at most of the campuses. The average increases are generally in the range of 3 percent to 4 percent. At U.T. Austin, for example, the average increase for faculty is 3.02 percent and the average increase for classified staff is 4.64 percent.

Total expenditures in the new budget are 1.52 percent higher than in fiscal 1998. The new fiscal year begins Sept. 1.

Of the total, $1.25 billion is financed with General Revenue appropriations (state tax dollars) -- an increase of 0.69 percent over the fiscal 1998 amount of $1.24 billion.

The percentage of the budget financed with state tax dollars declined, from 25.8 percent in FY 1998 to 25.6 percent in FY 1999. The decline continues a long-term trend.

Among other funding sources in the new operating budget, Educational and General Income (a category that includes tuition, student fees, patient income, and other items), experienced a net increase of 2.2 percent, from $1.238 billion to $1.247 billion.

Other funding sources include physician fees and related funds at health institutions, $599.2 million (up 4.37 percent), and sponsored research and services (the majority of which is funded through federal grants and contracts), $719.3 million (up 2.8 percent).

Budget changes at the U.T. System's nine general academic institutions and six health institutions vary because of factors such as enrollment growth, special state programs, different levels of research support, and patient care activities.