The University of Wisconsin System administration plans to develop a new policy to govern its cash reserves after the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau recently discovered the system held a $1 billion balance in June of last year, according to a system statement.
According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, a system policy pertaining to balances and reserves doesn’t currently exist, but administrators felt one was needed after many campus and state leaders expressed concern after the reserve balance was revealed.
“We need a policy that not only addresses what the appropriate level of balances should be but also how we communicate about them, how we monitor them and how we report,” Giroux said.
However, Giroux said he does not believe there is a “simple fix” to the question of what level of reserves are appropriate.
According to Giroux, the administrative staff is working on several drafts and their next step will be sharing the drafts with state legislators, financial experts and the UW System Board of Regents.
