A part of Gov. Jim Doyle's budget plan that appears to use private UW System funds to balance the budget has caused confusion and drawn opposition from state and university officials.
A UW System estimate of the proposed budget's effect projects $10.7 million in gifts and donations would be cut from the UW System as part of a 1 percent across-the-board cut to state services.
According to budget director David Schmiedicke, however, money from donations and gifts would not be spent under the plan.
""In the case of gifts and grant monies and donations, those dollars are not being transferred to the general fund,"" he said.
David Giroux, spokesperson for the UW System, said he was happy to hear that $10.7 million from gifts and donations would not be affected by the cut but is concerned that such a decision is not ""what we've seen published in the proposed budget.""
Schmiedicke said cuts would come from revenue earned by ""auxiliaries,"" services such as bookstores and residence halls.
The UW System faces an overall spending reduction of $174 million, $25 million of which would come from auxiliary transfers, according to the estimate.
The estimate also predicts $28.5 million in program revenue would be cut from the system, and Giroux said UW-Madison alone would face 60 percent of these cuts because it has a bigger pool of program revenue.
""The conversation needs to continue about the size of the cuts being given to the university and the structure of that cut,"" Giroux said, though he also said he is optimistic the university could keep its gifts and donations.
Mike Mikalsen, a spokesperson for state Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said he wants to know why the money from donations and gifts is still part of the budget if it will not be spent.
""$10.7 million can go a long way on a number of our campuses ... That certainly should be where that money is left,"" he said.
Mikalsen also said he feared donations to universities, especially to the smaller UW campuses, would suffer if contributors were under the impression that their money would not go to the school.
