University of Montana yanks funds to balance $1.8 million budget deficit

College of Forestry and Conservation Dean Tom DeLuca came to work on Friday, Feb. 24, to find $206,812.20 missing from the college’s designated funds accounts.

Those funds were supposed to be used for things like paying lab technicians, buying lab supplies and funding student field trips, among other expenditures.

DeLuca called Chris Comer, Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, to ask if he was also missing funds. Comer’s financial manager checked their accounts, and found that nearly half a million dollars ($474,671) was gone.

As part of the University’s attempt to balance a $1.8 million budget deficit this year, the Provost’s office shifted about 30 percent of every college’s designated funds expenditures to the University’s general fund overnight on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Lucy Tompkins

Full Story: http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/um-yanks-funds-to-balance-million-budget-deficit/article_720d1b20-05ca-11e7-b2c7-5f38bc0c6ded.html