Capital projects department to lay off 6 workers

UNM Office of Capital Projects is eliminating six full-time positions and cutting six unfilled positions to deal with a lack of funding for fiscal year 2011.

“We’ve reduced the size of the organization by almost 50 percent,” said Vice President of Institutional Support Services Steve Beffort. “Because before we had 20-some employees.”

Beffort said the OCP received a 60 percent drop in funds from about $100 million per year to about $40 million. Though he couldn’t say how much money the layoffs would save the department, it is substantial, he said.

“It’s enough to balance the budget next year based upon the numbers we are looking at,” he said.
William Turner, director of capital projects, said the department saw the budget decrease coming.
Turner said most capital projects employees have been on staff from three to 15 years. He noted that Human Resources policies stipulate that the department follows seniority preferences when conducting layoffs.

“On average, it is the people with the least seniority,” he said. “But in one of the job categories, an individual that has been here over 15 years is being laid off.”

For privacy reasons, Turner would not release the names of the laid-off employees.
“We are able to project income versus expense two to three years in advance,” he said. “We have known that our projected income has been shrinking.”

However, the Board of Regents said at the end of 2008 that the University’s financial situation would allow for future projects to continue.
“I don’t anticipate layoffs,” Regent Jamie Koch said during a December 2008 Finance and Facilities meeting.
Both Koch and UNM President David Schmidly said expanding projects during the economic downturn would create jobs for UNM community members.
Turner said that though the OCP knew they would have to deal with an income shortfall in FY2011, no one knew the impact it would have.
“The downturn in the economy has been quicker than anybody anticipated and more extreme than we anticipated,” he said. “But we did anticipate it.”

However, Koch said in 2008 that it was unlikely that in the future UNM would receive more funding for projects.
“It is going to be difficult for UNM to get funds for new capital projects,” he said.
Administrators forged on with new projects despite predictions of reduced funding by adding on new hires and contracting some new projects.
Turner said that now that the Legislature has cut funding, UNM can no longer afford to employ so
many people.
“We have nobody left on contract and we have to lay off some of the people that we hired,” he said.
UNM has 63 active capital projects, about 30 percent less than in previous years, Beffort said.

“This year we should break even,” he said “As we build next year’s budget, we know that next year’s budget will be several million dollars short if we do not address it right now.”

Beffort said that if voters don’t approve the general obligation bonds, approved by the Legislature during the special session, the problem will further escalate.

“General obligation bonds are very critical to supporting next year’s budget,” he said. “Without those, it is going to create additional problems.”
Beffort said the Human Resources Department hopes to ease the transition for employees who are losing their jobs by giving them 90 days notice and working to help them gain employment elsewhere in the University.
Turner said it will be difficult to handle the workload without the employees the department is losing, but over the next six months, projects will conclude and there will be less work.

“When you lose six people, covering for them, at least in the short term, is a challenge,” he said.
Turner said the department will continue to see a decrease in projects for the near future.

“At the moment, we don’t see an increasing work load for at least a couple of years,” he said. “After that, we hope it stabilizes and upturns, but we don’t have a vision out that far.”