[CAUT] durability (was funding)

[Fred Sturm]

On 9/30/06 4:47 PM, "Rick.Florence at asu.edu" <Rick.Florence at asu.edu> wrote:

> Returning to my original question, would you mind giving a budget amount you
> are
> working with annually in relation to the replacement value of your inventory?
> The reason I asked this in the first place is I am preparing a funding request
> to take us to the 10% ratio and am looking for any ammunition I can find.  I
> fear I may have to sell it as a "setting the standard" argument rather than
> using peer institution pressure.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Rick
Hi Rick,
    At UNM (which considers UA and ASU as its peers, though I suspect both
Arizona schools consider UNM lower in caliber - and I would agree with the
Arizona point of view), we have an inventory I estimate as $1.8 million
replacement value. We have a total annual budget of about $100,000,
including inventory replacement, salary (with benefits), parts, etc. I am
0.5 FTE taking care of 80 pianos. I consider the budget adequate except for
staffing level - can't possibly keep up with tuning, let alone high level
maintenance in this amount of time. So I would make a strong case for a
$130,000 - $140,000 budget with the needed staffing (1.0 FTE plus maybe a
bit of contract tuning).
    Current budget is 5.5% of inventory value. My recommendation would take
that to 7 - 8%. And this is being reasonable and realistic, IMO, and for a
non-conservatory setting, middle of the road state institution. The
Guidelines give a 5 - 10%  range.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico