As the Legislature heads into an extended session this week without a state budget for next year, ISU officials are skeptical they will have next year’s budget set on time.

The budgeting process at Iowa State, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa has been delayed because of uncertainty about how much money the state’s three public universities will receive. Funding commitments among legislators have seemed to fluctuate weekly, causing revenue estimates to be unpredictable.

The main problem the universities face is a May 11 deadline for submitting budget materials to the Board of Regents. The board is scheduled to discuss and approve university budgets at its June meeting, as they need to be in place by the beginning of the new fiscal year, July 1.

“It’s still really uncertain until the legislative process is completed. We don’t know yet where we will have to transfer funds out of and whether more cuts will have to be made,” said Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance. “Decisions won’t be made until revenue sources are known.”

With appropriations from the state, the university’s largest revenue source, still unknown, Madden said the university is forced to wait and see what happens.

“If it drags out too much longer, it becomes difficult. Once we get beyond the 10th of May, things become complicated,” he said, adding that as long as the Legislature gets through the rest of its business this week, Iowa State should be able to meet the regents’ deadline.

“We’re still on track to have a new budget in place by July 1, but if the Legislature goes more than next week, we’ll continue with the current budget,” he said. “We don’t want to have to do that if we can avoid it.”

For now, Iowa State and the other regent institutions are assuming they will get the $40 million funding increase they requested from the Legislature.

That assumption makes budgeting even more difficult, as legislators have been unwilling to fully fund the request.

On Wednesday, the House voted to give the regent institutions an additional $2.5 million for a total of $15 million in extra funding — less than half of what the regents say is needed to maintain educational quality, cap tuition increases and retain and recruit outstanding faculty.

“The Senate has yet to pass a budget, and until the legislative process is completed, the regents have indicated that they and the universities are supportive of gaining the $40 million,” Madden said. “The focus has been on accomplishing support for the transformational plan, and Iowa State is optimistic the Legislature will grant that $40 million in full funding.”

Assuming this is true, Iowa State would receive an extra $16 million, with $8.3 million coming from tuition, which is set to increase by 4 percent for next year.

Iowa State is also planning on reallocating $8 million toward four specific initiatives derived from the university’s strategic plan for 2005 through 2010. The university plans to increase university salaries by 2 percent to 3 percent for faculty, professional and scientific staff and graduate assistants.

To fund this, Iowa State is planning on a salary allocation of 1 percent to 2 percent — separate from the general fund allocation — to help it bring salaries up to competitive levels. The House Appropriations Committee, however, voted Wednesday to remove university salary increases from a state employee salaries bill.

Although no plans have been finalized for how this will be accomplished, Iowa State cut class sections this year as part of a $8.5 million reallocation to implement the state’s salary policy, as no state appropriations were provided for salary increases.

“Everything is linked to that $16 million,” said Mark Chidister, assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis.

“If things change substantially, then we need to rethink the whole strategy.”