Correction Appended
Arizona’s Technology and Research Initiative Fund, an important financial contributor to the Biodesign Institute at ASU, has shrunk significantly in the past year, leading the institute to eliminate 14 positions.
The lack of funding from state sales tax, combined with the $143 million cut to the university system, has caused the institute to lay off 12 people, move two people and halt the start of several new research proposals.
Kimberly Ovitt, director of communication and institutional advancement at the Biodesign Institute, said the fund, which is a portion of the state sales tax, is down because of the slowdown of consumer spending in the stalling economy.
Seventy-five percent of the money from the fund is used to pay employee salaries, she said.
“We could not [balance the budget] without eliminating about 14 positions,” she said.
Voters passed the legislation for the fund in 2000, Ovitt added.
Since then, between 10 to 12 percent of a 0.6 cent state sales tax is earmarked for it. This is split between all three state universities.
From the portion of this amount that ASU receives, 52 percent of the fund has been used to support establishing and operating, Ovitt said.
The other 88 to 90 percent of the 0.6 cent sales tax goes to K-12 education and covers maintenance costs at public schools, Ovitt said.
Reach the reporter at benjamin.weitzenkorn@asu.edu.
