Legislative update: Budget restoration

May 18, 2021

Dear Wolf Pack Family,

Before I share some good news with you, I want to first thank you all for an academic year that we will not soon forget. There was great challenge, certainly, but there was also an underlying sense of determination, dedication and optimism in how we reacted to the pandemic. Your work and your deep concern and care for one another helped define our purpose and how we were to achieve it. Thank you for all that you have done. It’s the "Wolf Pack Way."

As you may have seen reported, in a special Saturday (May 15) meeting the joint Money Committees of the Nevada State Legislature allocated a portion of the State’s American Recovery Funding to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). This action will restore the positions identified for either elimination or permanent vacancy that were part of our 12% budget reduction plans. It will also eliminate the need for any budgetary layoffs. This action will support 122 University employee FTE and $8.7 million per year.

We are now awaiting guidance from the State on accessing these funds and the specific positions approved to move forward, as well as guidance from NSHE on excepting them from the hiring freeze for filling these positions during the next fiscal year. The past year, particularly as it related to our budget, has been one of wait-and-see, with the hope that several of the worst-case scenarios would not come to pass. Should you get the opportunity, please join me in thanking our legislators for this vital support.

More details will follow as we get them. But with the spring semester now concluded and four days of historic and wonderful in-person commencement exercises now forever part of our University’s collective memory, it is time to thank you all for a job well done. Now is the time to look ahead. Our University’s potential is great; the potential of our people, even greater.

Go Pack!

Sincere regards,

Brian Sandoval
President