SPH Predicts Budget Deficit

University officials yesterday projected the School of Public Health (SPH) will show a budget deficit between $100,000 and $300,000 for the current fiscal year, marking the school's first deficit in recent years.

Administrators said yesterday, however, that the budget--which will total approximately $20 million--might be brought back into balance by infusions of federal grants in the next few months.

"The finances at the school are extremely dynamic," Howard J. Levy, assistant dean for financial affairs at the SPH, said yesterday.

Treasure Hunt

Elkan R. Blout, recently-appointed assistant dean for academic affairs at the SPH, said yesterday there are federal grants outstanding that could effectively eliminate the deficit.

Thomas O'Brien, vice president for financial affairs, said the loss of federal funds would be responsible for any deficit. He noted, as an example, that the school lost $90,000 when the federal government switched appropriations for fiscal year 1978-79, eliminating funds that were available in previous years.

Programs at the SPH are now about 90 per cent federally funded, O'Brien said. He added, however, that as the school switches to programs that are not federally-backed, as little as 40 per cent of its operating expenses may come from Washington sources.

Bok said only 60 to 70 per cent of SPH programs are now federally-funded.

Blout noted that some new programs in the social sciences at the SPH are not supported by government funds.

Although many biological programs are still supported by federal outlays, new programs will require money from other sources, such as private foundations and individual donors, he added.

Blout said that new federal guidelines affecting the school limit the use of federal funds available for teaching purposes.

President Bok said yesterday it is not yet clear whether the SPH will show a deficit. "Sometimes they fall short," he said. "What they're doing is saying: 'If we don't raise any money between now and then [the end of the fiscal year], we will run a deficit," he added.

Levy said this year's deficit, if it occurs, probably will not cause a serious problem. "One has to wonder if there's a significance to any given year if there's overall financial solvency," he added.

O'Brien agreed, saying budget surpluses from the past several years would make up for this year's projected deficit.

Bok said yesterday he has not received a concrete proposal for a projected $43 million fund drive which Howard H. Hiatt, dean of the SPH, has been suggesting for several months.

Paul Torrens, president of the SPH alumni council and professor of public health at the University of California at Los Angeles, said yesterday plans for a fund drive are "still up in the air."

"They say they're going to do it," he noted, adding that no details on the drive have been released.