PORTLAND (AP) – The University of Maine System faces a financial squeeze that could require tuition increases as well as concessions from its unions, the system chancellor warned.

Chancellor Joseph Westphal said it is crucial for the university system’s strategic plan to be implemented soon to generate long-term savings.

“We don’t have a lot of time to fool around with this,” Westphal said. “We either do it or live with the misery we are building for ourselves.”

Westphal wants the Legislature to endorse a $44 million bond that would enable the system to modernize and renovate its facilities. Westphal said he envisions the university system next year working with the state’s community college system and Maine Maritime Academy for a bond of $300 million or $400 million.

The Legislature is reviewing the university system’s budget, and Gov. John Baldacci has proposed a budget that increases the university system’s funding by $1 million, raising the annual appropriation to $181 million.

The increase is short of $14 million in additional funding Westphal sought.

Over the past 15 years, the university system received no additional money or had funding reduced in all but six of those years, Westphal said. Adjusted for inflation, state funding per student has been falling steadily.

To balance the budget, Westphal said the system has several options such as raising tuition and fees, reducing the number of classes, reducing financial aid and cutting positions.

He said health costs are rising rapidly and that the system can no longer afford the “Cadillac” health insurance plan it gives employees and their spouses.

Mark Gray, executive director of the Maine Education Association, said the bad feelings that were generated by Westphal’s top-down approach to the strategic plan will carry over into negotiations.

Many university employees oppose the strategic plan. The plan aims to close a projected $102 million budget gap over the next five years and calls for consolidating administration and university structuring.

Gray said the system’s employees are already underpaid compared to national standards. It would be a mistake to address the budget shortfall by trying to extract concessions from salaries and benefits, he said.

State Rep. Joe Brannigan, D-Portland, House chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said it is difficult for the universities to compete with primary education for funding because such schools have local political support.

“They don’t get a large share of the state’s tax money,” he said. “They don’t get the support when things get tough.”

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-02-04-05 0216EST