BANGOR (AP) – In the year ahead, University of Maine System Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart will focus on cutting costs, making the system more efficient and working with the governor and Legislature to gain more financial support for the system.

That’s on top of conducting a national search for his successor, MacTaggart said Monday at his first UMS board of trustees meeting since being appointed to a one-year tenure.

MacTaggart, who was UMS chancellor from 1996 to 2001, replaced Joseph Westphal as chancellor on July 1. Westphal stepped down on June 30 after four years on the job to become a full-time professor.

MacTaggart will begin his term with a “tough-minded” review of the seven-campus system. The goal of the audit, which is expected to be completed this fall, is to evaluate where the system has redundancies and gaps in service, and how it can operate more efficiently, he said.

“We’re trying to pay faculty what they deserve, and we want to keep tuition increases low,” MacTaggart said. “It’s important that the system look at what we can do to ensure we’re keeping costs down.”

Trustee Chairwoman Margaret Weston said she plans to appoint a search committee composed of four trustees, a faculty member and a student to find a chancellor by next summer. The system is saving $150,000 by using MacTaggart, instead of an outside firm, to head the search, she said.

MacTaggart and Weston said they plan to work closely with legislators and Gov. John Baldacci to win more state financing for the university system.

Several years of budget battles with the Legislature have resulted in tuition increases and a projected shortfall of more than $100 million by 2009.

“Relationships with the governor and the Legislature are job one,” MacTaggart said.

MacTaggart said he was happy to be back on the job.

“I enjoy this kind of work. The university system is one of three or four of the most important enterprises in Maine,” he said.