LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - The University of Wyoming will lay off employees in coming weeks as the state’s only public, four-year college deals with more than $40 million in budget cuts, but there are no plans for faculty job eliminations, a university official said this week.
Fewer than 50 college workers are expected to lose their jobs as university administrators cut costs because of lower state revenues tied to the state’s dependence on the energy sector and its dwindling profits, university spokesman Chad Baldwin told the Casper Star-Tribune (https://goo.gl/q5OT5P ) on Monday.
Baldwin said he could not provide a more precise figure for the number of layoffs because those decisions will be made by university deans and department heads. The amount of money that the university will save will depend on their decisions, he said.
Employees will find out in mid-May whether they will lose their jobs and those forced to go will depart by June 30, Baldwin said.
University workers were notified in April that layoffs were likely, said Rachel Stevens, vice president of the university’s staff senate that represents college workers.
The university has lost tens of millions of dollars in funding during the current two-year state budget cycle because of the energy sector’s decline.
The university previously announced more than $29 million in cost reductions. But 85 percent of the school’s budget pays for workers, and officials have said it’s nearly impossible to cut costs more without layoffs.
The layoffs come on top of 300 job eliminations over the last year, most of those positions vacant. The university has offered incentives for employees to retire early or leave.
Baldwin said there is no possibility that the university’s president, Laurie Nichols, will declare a “financial exigency” crisis scenario that would allow the university to cut the jobs of tenured professors.
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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, https://www.trib.com
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