Everyone would receive the same amount, regardless of their compensation level, Ramsey said. Administrators would not receive the payment.
Ramsey and members of the university’s Office for Finance had an open forum April 22 to present the draft budget to students, faculty and staff and to ask for feedback.
The budget proposal, Ramsey said, was drafted using several key assumptions. Among them were that the university would have to find funding for fixed costs for the maintenance and operation of new buildings, that UofL would provide a one-time payment for faculty and staff and that a tuition increase would be required.
The finance office listed the proposed tuition increase as 6 percent for in-state undergraduate students, but the Council on Postsecondary Education has not set tuition guidelines state universities and the number could change.
An estimated $13 million that would result from the tuition increase as well as from other revenue sources would allow UofL to cover fixed costs, expenses and debt service and to fund such strategic initiatives as financial aid to students, research efforts and the new transfer office, Ramsey said.
Drafting the budget, he said, was a little bit challenging because the Kentucky legislature has not approved a budget and universities do not know how large a cut in state funding they will have to take in the next fiscal year.
Budget details could change depending on what happens at the state level.
UofL has had nine budget cuts from the state in nine years with a cumulative loss of $145 million, Ramsey said.
Despite the challenge of past and future budget cuts, however, UofL will continue to move forward in its mission as a pre-eminent metropolitan research university, he said.
Ramsey will present the budget draft to a variety of faculty, staff and student groups before presenting it to the finance committee of the Board of Trustees in May. The full board will vote on it in June.