Senate subcommittee backs FY27 closeout for University of Alaska, approves recruitment and compensation money
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Summary
The Senate Finance subcommittee approved a FY27 closeout recommendation for the University of Alaska budget totaling $1.16996 billion, endorsing one-time recruitment funds, health-care cost increases, and pay adjustments for union and recently unionized employees before forwarding the report to the full committee.
The Senate Finance Budget Subcommittee voted to adopt its FY27 closeout recommendation for the University of Alaska on April 16, approving a total funds budget of $1,169,962,000 and forwarding the report to the full Senate Finance Committee.
Ella Adkisson, staff to Senator Kiel, presented the subcommittee's numbers and proposals, saying: "The Senate Finance Budget Subcommittee for the University of Alaska submits the following fiscal year 27 recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee." She listed the recommended totals: unrestricted general funds of $364,134,700; designated general funds of $322,750,800; other funds of $253,245,300; and federal funds of $229,831,200. The subcommittee recommended a total position count of 4,108, including 3,838 permanent full‑time positions and about 270 permanent part‑time positions.
The subcommittee accepted items in the governor's amended budget, including $2,000,000 in university receipts to support a land sale in Cordova and $48,000,000 in receipt‑authority adjustments to better align FY27 with FY25 actuals. Adkisson outlined one‑time and policy items the panel recommended: a one‑time recruitment allocation spread across the three main universities totaling $1,213,000 in unrestricted general funds and $1,037,000 in university receipts; $1,800,000 in unrestricted general funds for health care cost increases; and combined funding for nonunion employee compensation increases consisting of $2,423,900 in unrestricted general funds, $970,100 in university receipts and $68,800 in statutory designated funds.
Adkisson also said the subcommittee recommends language adding $4,467,600 in unrestricted general funds and $1,914,800 in university receipts to cover the same compensation increase for recently unionized university employees, contingent on agreement between labor and management.
Senator Cronk asked why the recruitment funding split varied among campuses. The chair explained the subcommittee did not fund the Regents' full request and instead applied each university's existing proportion of unrestricted general funds and university receipts when allocating the roughly $750,000 per campus one‑time recruitment amount.
Senator Stedman moved to adopt the attached budget action report and to authorize legislative finance and legislative legal staff to make technical or conforming changes as necessary; there was no objection and the motion carried by voice vote. The chair thanked university staff, Legislative Finance analyst Michael Partlow, and Adkisson for their work. The subcommittee adjourned at 9:07 a.m.
The action will be reflected in the closeout report sent to the full Senate Finance Committee for consideration; the transcript shows the subcommittee approved the report and authorized technical edits rather than making final appropriation decisions.
