Budget Services

General Guidelines

• Budget recommendations will be prepared within the estimated funds available. The use of reserve balances is limited to special one-time situations and should not be a part of normal operating budgets.
• If a merit pool is approved, this process will be handled outside of the departmental request process. Guidelines will be communicated through Employee Services once the budget has been approved.
• One-time requests funded in FY18 will not carry forward into FY19. A request for permanent funding should be included in the FY19 division request.
• In self-supporting activities, budgeted expenditures should not exceed realistic revenue estimates, which will be provided by Business Services on or before January 12th.
• It is expected that grants and contracts will finance their proportionate share of recommended increases.
• Expenditures should support the university mission and align with the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.
• Salary savings generated from budgeted positions are used to create the university's net income, which is required for operating margin, best business practices and reserves replenishment. Salary savings from college tuition differentials flow to the capital reserve for the appropriate college.

The budget process for fiscal year 2019 will include both operating and capital budget requests. FY19 requests for new funds will be prioritized by the Executive Cabinet with funding released once fall enrollment/revenue is known.

Budget Request Template

Division budget requests must be submitted using the Excel template provided. This will ensure an efficient and effective budget process and prevent errors which occur through the use of different submission worksheets.

New funding requests should be entered as a positive number, with any corresponding decrease entered as a negative number, in order to reflect the reallocation of funding to new initiatives.

All columns of the template should be completed to ensure necessary information is gathered with the request. No changes should be made to the template. The first tab of the template includes important definitions that should be understood prior to completing the request. Several examples are also included. For questions regarding completion of the request template, contact the Budget Services team at budgets@tarleton.edu or extension 9109.