Two university budget forums were held Tuesday to inform people about the steps being taken to address the expected decrease in state funding.

Most of the attendees of both forums – held at noon and 5:15 p.m. in the CUB Auditorium – were WSU staff and faculty members.

The university budget is expected to be cut by $10.5 million in the next fiscal year, and by $31 million in the next two years.

“We have known for some time this was going to happen,” President Elson S. Floyd said.

Both Floyd and Provost Warwick M. Bayly, co-chairmen of the university budget committee, were on hand to help address questions from students, staff and community members about the cuts and to give additional information about the actions being taken to help absorb the $10.5 million loss next year.

Three different ways to deal with the budget cut were presented. Staff, utilities and tuition were all discussed, with staff cuts and salaries being the focal point.

“I am strongly against doing across the board cuts,” Floyd said.

Steps have already been taken to help assure WSU comes out of this economic crisis while still maintaining a high level of excellence, Bayly said.

“A hiring freeze is already in place and cuts in salary have already been implemented within the university,” he said.

Floyd’s and other high-ranking faculty members’ salaries also came into question.

“Why are some officials in the WSU community making more than that of the president and vice president of the United States?” electrical engineering instructor Carl Wells asked.

Floyd mentioned that he took a $100,000 salary reduction starting Jan. 1. His voluntary pay cut was announced Nov. 21 after the Board of Regents increased his salary from $600,000 to $725,000.

Last week, the University of Washington announced it would not accept any new students for the spring quarter in response to its expected 13 percent budget deficit. Bayly assured this would not be a course of action at WSU.

“We continue to expect record numbers of new WSU students and do not plan on using the students as a way to help make up for the lost funding,” Bayly said.

Floyd agreed.

“We do not believe in balancing this budget on the back of the students, as many families are hurting right now,” he said.

Converting the communication between students and staff to exclusively electronic correspondence is one way to help cut down costs, while spending on office supplies within various departments are another saving measure being discussed.

Floyd warned that in order to do this, WSU might have to spend money before saving money.

“Even though students may see new computers in the CUB, that doesn’t mean we will not be saving money in this new system,” he said.

A new Web site was created to help inform students and staff about the upcoming changes and more Q-and-A forums concerning the subject are expected to be held. Web updates can be found at budget-committee.wsu.edu.

“We want to have the budget balanced and released well before the second semester ends,” Bayly said.

Floyd urged WSU students to remain educated on the crisis.

“Having the students up to date and informed is a high priority,” he said.