UNLV programs avoid cuts in proposed budget

UNLV coaches can breathe a sigh of relief, as it appears their operating budgets for the 1998-99 season will not be cut.

After weeks of juggling figures, a proposed $10.4 million athletic department budget was expected to be submitted to university president Dr. Carol Harter today or Thursday. Pending her approval, it will be submitted as part of UNLV's overall $114 million budget to the Board of Regents at its June 18-19 meeting in Reno.

Two months ago, the department was dealing with a potential $750,000 deficit in its proposed budget. A memorandum was circulated among the coaches, asking for ideas and assistance to help eliminate the possible shortfall.

Several coaches feared the solution would be to trim their operating budgets. However, that never came to pass. Cuts were made in other areas while additional revenue streams were found to balance the ledger for 1998-99.

In addition, the department claims it will not finish the 1998 fiscal year in the red for the first time in six years. This year's budget was $9.8 million.

"We had to look at a lot of things a lot closer than in the past," assistant athletic director Tom Gabbard said. "We were able to do a thousand things, but the keys were making reductions in certain areas and making sure our revenue projections were accurate."

One of the important issues was finding $293,000 to meet gender equity requirements. With the startup of women's soccer, added expenses for volleyball and women's basketball, more funds needed to be found to comply.

The gender equity matter was offset by an additional $200,000 in projected revenue from basketball scholarship donor season-ticket sales through the school's equitizing program. The plan, instituted last year, will have all donors paying the same price for the same seats.

Last year, approximately $4.6 million was raised through the scholarship donor program. For 1998-99, the projected revenue is $4.8 million.

The rest was made up by not replacing associate A.D. David Chambers, who quit earlier this month. Chambers' $83,000 salary was applied to the gender equity deficit.

Gabbard said an additional $80,000 in revenue was found through endowment accounts, which were transferred to funding for scholarships. Administrative cuts and reductions in sports marketing expenditures helped balance the books.

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