The mass media in Wisconsin has been saturated this year with news about the state government’s looming budget deficit, so it will come as no surprise for you to read that our office will be taking a budget cut. In fact, we absorbed a modest preemptive reduction about six months ago but the larger effect will be in the next two years.
The good news is that we don’t expect to have to lay off any staff. The biggest savings item which will cushion the budget cut is our planned move to publish this newsletter via the web. Printing and mailing costs have risen year after year, so our use of electronic distribution will let us continue to provide most of our remaining services as before.
As part of the Department of Geography, the SCO’s budget is administered by the College of Letters and Science, the largest college on the UW-Madison campus. The budget cut we have already taken earlier this year will help the College meet its financial targets for the first year of the two-year budget cycle beginning this July.
However, for the second year, the College is planning to reduce the Geography Department’s and thus the SCO’s budget, by further significant amounts. At this point the percent reduction has not been firmly established, but we have been working with a department-wide 10% target figure. The elimination of the Bulletin printing and mailing will go along way to meeting the SCO’s share of the cuts.