The proposed budget cut for next year will slice 4 percent from most divisions at Western, reducing money for some services and positions around campus.

Provost Barbara Burch said the Board of Regents still has to approve the cut.

The state cut Western’s budget for next year by 2 percent, but university officials made the cut 4 percent instead to give faculty and staff bonuses.

The state cut comes after Kentucky’s budget shortfall added up to $456 million this year, said Parry Barrows, executive assistant to Jay Blanton, spokesman for the governor.

Officials expect the deficit to be greater next year as the economy continues to decline, Barrows said.

President Gary Ransdell said state support has shifted from covering about 50 percent of Western’s budget to about 25 percent of the budget since he became president in 1997.

Burch said Academic Affairs officials worked for months on the division’s cuts.

“The president doesn’t just sit down and make the decision and say ‘this is it,’” she said.

Academic Affairs’ cut included eliminating some faculty and staff positions, Burch said.

She said nobody in the division lost a job because of the cut. Some of those positions were unfilled and some were left open after people retired.

Academic Affairs got $1.8 million this fiscal year from increased tuition money, she said. About $800,000 of that money will go to the division’s cut.

Burch said Academic Affairs got less of a cut to its base budget because the division got that extra money.

The Student Affairs division’s cut includes reducing police overtime, which is usually spent on police working at university events, said Brad Wheeler, budget and resources manager for Student Affairs.

“It will mean some less coverage for events as long as it does not compromise students’ safety or security,” he said.

That division also cut about $9,800 from Campus Activities Board money, which means less money for events, Wheeler said.

The Athletics division cut money that would have been used for increased operating expenses as the football program fully transitions into the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as 1A, according to the implementation plan for the budget reduction.

Institutional Advancement cut three editions of different newsletters used for fundraising to absorb part of its cut, said Tom Hiles, vice president for institutional advancement.

Hiles said he thinks cutting the mailings will affect fundraising, but not in a major way.

He said he worries that budget cuts could continue, which could hurt future fundraising.

“We’re appreciative of our funding, but like everybody else, we’re concerned about the trend,” he said.