As director of the state's Area Health Education Centers program, based in UNC-Chapel Hill, he already has seen nearly $1.3 million cut from its operating expenses this fiscal year. That amount went toward the almost $12 million the University had to cut permanently from its budget.
But with recent midyear reversions, AHEC will lose almost another $1 million, and Bacon is not so optimistic all nine of his centers will withstand the blows.
"I think it's a serious long-term problem -- there just aren't any easy places to cut now," he said. "I think we're at the point where we have to ask, 'Do we close some programs?'"
AHEC isn't crippled for now, but its situation mirrors a general campus sentiment articulated in the school's latest budget report -- each small budget reduction eventually is going to take its toll on the quality of the University's programs.
What UNC-CH officials hoped would be this fiscal year's only budget cuts are outlined in the report's summary of reductions, which was submitted to the UNC-system Board of Governors last Thursday. The report reflects the $12 million in cuts mandated for UNC-CH earlier this year but does not take into account the $8.2 million in temporary cuts levied this month.
"The overall reduction to this point was much more manageable than in previous years due partly to the enlarged expectation, but most importantly, due to the flexibility to make the reductions at the discretion of the campus," Chancellor James Moeser wrote in a memorandum to the UNC-system Office of the President.
As expected, UNC-CH dealt with the budget reductions with little damage to personnel. With the state's budget crisis in mind, most campus officials began preparing in May for reductions ranging from 5 percent to 10 percent.
No filled faculty positions were slashed, and less than 10 staff posts hit the chopping block. Most often, the cuts consumed vacant faculty positions, 54 of which were eliminated in the first round of cuts.
Hiring inevitably will see a decline, but it will not stop altogether, Provost Robert Shelton said Wednesday. "There is recruitment going on, it's just reduced," he said. Much of the funding for the vacant faculty posts also would have gone to teaching assistant positions, Shelton added.
