Faced with a potential $30 million budget shortfall this year brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, West Virginia University is looking at temporary furloughs for some workers while top administrators — including President Gordon Gee — are taking voluntary pay cuts or making financial donations to the university.
Rob Alsop, the university’s vice president of strategic initiatives, said Thursday the furloughs, if implemented, would affect “several hundred” employees. He did not have more specific details.
The university is considering two plans, Alsop said. In the first, temporary layoffs would be May 23 through June 28, while the second and longer scenario would last from May 23 to July 26. This would affect WVU employees in Morgantown and at its branch campuses in Beckley and Keyser.
“We just don’t know yet,” said Alsop, when asked for a specific number of employees.
The next regular WVU Board of Governors meeting is May 1. It’s expected the BOG will discuss the furloughs, the coronavirus and its finances at that meeting.
If the university follows through with the proposed furloughs, affected workers will be notified May 8. The timing of the workforce reduction would give employees the opportunity to take advantage of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which provides an additional $600 through July 31.
“This is the reality we’re facing,” Alsop said.
WVU closed its campuses in late March because of COVID-19 and moved to online learning, a move that has resulted in $13.6 million in residence hall and dining fees being reimbursed to students.
The university received the first half of $20.2 million from the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. That money will be used for direct cash grants to students affected by the pandemic. WVU said the second $10 million installment is expected later this spring. It must be used to cover any costs associated with changes to delivery of instruction because of the coronavirus. Officials are awaiting additional instruction from the government on how to use those funds.
Also, $10 million in capital improvements to campus buildings was postponed, Alsop said. The university is still going through with making improvements to Hodges Hall and building Reynolds Hall, the new home of the university’s business school. Improvements planned at Milan Puskar Stadium will also proceed as planned, he added.
“We are seeing an impact from the virus,” Alsop said. “We’re doing very little hiring.”
Separately, President Gee, who makes a base salary of $800,000, said he is taking a 10% voluntary pay cut, as are other top administrators, including Alsop. Other senior leaders will be making financial donations to the university, Alsop said.
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