□ □□□□□□□ ^ \\\yj XXxv i c\ Is it worth the price □ □□□□□□□ THE “TAX BURDEN” OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS T HE University is asking for an appropriation of $10,500,000* for the next biennium as against $5,348,000 from State revenue for the same field of operations for the biennium just closing. We are asked, properly, why so large an increase is re- quested. It should not be granted unless it can be justified. The Amount Analyzed 1. Four million dollars ($4,000,000) a year are asked for operation , maintenance , etc.^ including salaries and wages of all existing positions and necessary new ones. The number cn the salary and wage payroll at latest count was 1292. We need over 150 more. 2. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for each of the two years are for a new Agricultural Building , sorely needed. 3. One million dollars ($1,000,000) for each year are to erect a new Horticultural Field Laboratory >a unit of a new Library , a Medical Research Labor- atory and Library , a Cattle Feeding Plants and other buildings . All are necessary. Most have been projected and planned for seven or eight years and nothing has been done, so that the University buildings not only have not kept pace with the growth of student attendance, but have fallen far behind. •This sum is from the State. It does not include oertain Federal money for the agricultural work passing through the State Treasurer, and technically “appropriated.” nor the appropriation to pay interest on the endowment fund of the University provided by the United States and taken over by the State as a trust. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN IssufP Weekly Vol. XVIII M/trch 7, 1921 No. 27 (Entered as second class matfer December 11, 1912, at the post offloe at Urbana. Illinois, under the Act of August 24. 1912, Acceptance for mailing at the special rite of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 191?. authorized July 31, 1918.) PUBLISHED BY THE ijNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. URBANA Tl^u-Dl 4. Of the whole amount, $5,400,000 for the bien- nium will be supplied from the existing mill tax fund and, therefore, causes no additional tax burden. The balance is asked for out of general revenue. Why So Much A N adequate answer would be that the physical expansion of the University has been at a standstill so that, allowing for all business adjust- ments, its needs are larger than even the amount asked for. Prices — The United States Labor Bureau shows that in January 1921 prices of food, clothing, housing, fuel, light, and furnishings, the things that go to make up the mass of ordinary expenditures, were 77 per cent higher than in December 1914. This figure allows for the recent fall of prices. The amount requested for the University operation is only 60 per cent more than before, and the amount must not only meet any increases of salaries and wages and cost of materials, supplies, and equipment, but must also provide for new teaching and other positions necessitated by the increased enrollment and for additional supplies and equipment. The amount does not by any means all go into salary and wage increases as some people seem to think. A second answer is that the student body has doubled in ten years, while the State appropriation has increased only 11 per cent. A third answer is that the demands on the staff for advice, conference, and consultation by organiz- ations in all parts of the State have doubled or trebled. A fourth answer is that the University approp- riations have not increased nearly as fast as the total State appropriations. The University's per- centage share in the State appropriations is only half what it was ten years ago. The Educational Press Bulletin , issued by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, for February shows that, excluding the appropriations for the State Normal Schools, for vocational education, and for good roads, the amount appropriated by the General Assembly in 1911 was $14,829,087. Of this amount, according to the Bulletin, the University got $2,402,500, or 16.2 per cent. In 1919, from thesame source the corresponding figures were $31,018,504 and $2,740,126*, showing the University's approp- riation to be 8.8 per cent of the total. The ratio of the share of the University in the total State approp- riations has decreased nearly 50 per cent. In other words, while the University's needs have been growing with other needs of the State, they have been met by a decreasing share of the State income. The University appropriation has been a decreasing burden in comparison with other demands. The total State appropriation, as shown above, has increased 108 per cent since 1911, while that to the University has increased 10 per cent in the same period. What Does Each One Pay? T HE grand total of taxes levied for all purposes in Illinois in 1915 was $124,813,482. Out of each dollar the University got two and 1/20 cents. In 1919 the total sum of taxes levied was $190, 581,361. Out of every dollar the University got a cent and a half. The per capita appropriation for the University, based on population, is 38 cents. In other states the per capita appropriation for carrying the same lines of work as the University of Illinois is as follows: Minnesota $1.38 Iowa 1.32 Wisconsin 1.14 Michigan 1.06 Ohio 55 Illinois 38 If every dollar of the State wealth were divided into 10,000 parts, the University of Illinois would be getting 3 1/3 of these parts, while for corresponding work Wisconsin assigns 7 such parts, Minnesota 6%, Michigan 4 Ohio 3 2/3, and Iowa 3 1/5. Appropriations Elsewhere for Similar University Work — 1921-1923 W E should not determine what is proper for Illinois to do merely from what other states are doing, yet a comparison of the activities of different states is helpful and suggestive. •These figures include Federal money and income from endow- ment. neither of which is properly a State tax burden. The omission of these figures would show an even less favorabie condition for the Uni- versity. . z. In some States the College of Agriculture and the Experiment Station are separate institutions from the State University, so-called. At Illinois they are part of the University . In States where they are separate, the appropriations asked for are com- bined here for comparison with ours. The aggregate request in Illinois for the biennium is $10,500,000; in Wisconsin, $10,286,000, aside from $998,529 received as an emergency appropriation last winter; in Michigan, $18,350,000; in Minnesota, $10,428,000, in addition to an emergency appropriation of $1,097,635; in Ohio, $11,026,312; in Iowa, $10,107,- 994, not including buildings; in California, $13,719,- 423. One illustration of an endowed institution is Columbia. Its operating budget alone in 1920-21 was $6,445,000; in 1915-16, only five years before, it was $3,897,000. No Deficit T HE University of Illinois, confronted with un- paralleled difficulties, will finish the biennium without a deficit. It will do so because it has slaughtered work to keep within its income. In some other States deficiency appropriations are requested for the university, varying from $360,000 to over $1,000,000. Decreasing Per Capita Expenditure for Instruction T HE expenditure for instruction per student, ac- cording to the Comptroller of the University, was $251.87 in 1913-14 and $236.33 in the current year. Allowing for the reduced purchasing power of money as of January last, the actual value expend- iture for instruction per student this year is $133.52 or only 47 per cent of what it was in 1913-14 . This is a clear indication of conditions producing ineffi- ciency; for it means crowded classes, fewer instruc- tors, less equipment, and less favorable conditions of work. Is the Money Efficiently Spent? Y ES. At the head of the business organization of the University is the Comptroller, who is a Certified Public Accountant. Under him are an Assistant Comptroller, a Bursar, an Auditor, and a Purchasing Agent. Each of the three latter has assistants, with the necessary number of clerks, stenographers, and bookkeepers, the total n in the business staff being thirty-six. A divisi the office, with a staff of six, is at the Me College. In addition, there is a Treasurer appo by the Board of Trustees, and recently the o Superintendent of Business Operations has created, the duty of the incumbent being to the President informed on the efficiency of the ness operations of all departments of the Unive All expenditures are made on requisitions approved by several officers and only afte Trustees have made appropriations for the resp purposes. All purchases are made throug" Purchasing Agent, standard articles largely i being bought in quantities, and purchases exc $100 are let by contract after competition, articles as require expert judgment are boug' or on advice of the experts of the University, as agents of the Purchasing Agent and the C troller, under regular procedure and due auth Monthly reports are made by the Comptrolle the Treasurer, and quarterly financial report published in the minutes of the Board of Trus Quarterly audits are also made by a Chicago fi accountants. The expenditures of the University are in respects unlike those of many other public tutions. Some things, like paper or examin books, are standard commercial products, others are peculiar to each department an almost infinite variety. The former class of su are bought in the open market, on competitive at the lowest prices. The latter class of t' of which we may need only one at a time, 1 microscope, are bought by our Purchasing De ment under expert advice in the best market, buying practise in these respects is up-to-date sharply watched. David Ki