2016-17 budget planning process underway
June 2, 2015
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The process of preparing the university鈥檚 2016-17 operating budget is now underway, following approval of the by Senate in April, and by the Board of Trustees in May.
In his recent on the 2015-16 budget and the 2016-17 budget process, Alan Harrison, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) and Chair of the (PACB), says balancing the budget continues to be a significant challenge.
鈥淲hile the university is expecting revenue growth in 2015-16 and 2016-17, all units are facing an additional charge to offset increased , as well as other cost pressures,鈥 says Provost Harrison. 鈥淭he 2015-16 budget was balanced, but only after drawdowns from carry-forward balances and cash reserves, highlighting the importance of continuing to grow and diversify revenues.鈥
The annual budget process begins with shared service units, which will provide their budget submissions to PACB by the end of August. Each shared service unit will be asked to assess the effects on its operation of absorbing the additional pension charges and salary and benefit increases.
"The university鈥檚 priority is to ensure that as much revenue growth as possible remains within the faculties and schools to support the advancement of Queen鈥檚 academic mission.鈥
- Provost Alan Harrison
The budget planning scenario also asks each shared service unit to project the effects on its budgets for 2017-18 and 2018-19 on the assumption that its base budget increases by 4 percent in 2017-18, and by 2 percent of projected salary costs in 2018-19.
鈥淲hile that scenario will not necessarily be the one applied to any particular shared service unit, it will help the PACB determine whether there are grounds for additional funding to shared services in support of increased costs,鈥 says Provost Harrison. 鈥淯nder our budget model, any increases for shared services are funded by the faculties and schools. The university鈥檚 priority is to ensure that as much revenue growth as possible remains within the faculties and schools to support the advancement of Queen鈥檚 academic mission.鈥
Once the budgets for the shared services have been provisionally determined, faculties and schools will develop their budget submissions over the course of the fall. The final budget will then be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval in May 2016.
More information about the 2016-17 budget process can be found in the and on the .