The green grass and fountains that make the UA campus a virtual oasis will dry up in the coming weeks after officials announced plans Wednesday to halt several landscaping programs in the face of state budget cuts.
University of Arizona officials have turned off the institution's 13 fountains and won't be replanting flowers and grass on the Mall this year to cut down on maintenance costs associated with the upkeep of the grounds on campus, according to a memo from Joel Valdez, UA's vice president for business affairs.
The changes will last indefinitely.
While officials couldn't say how much they hoped to save by cutting back on maintenance, the goal is to help offset layoffs in the face of a $77 million cut in state funding the UA took this fiscal year and to help with even deeper cuts expected in the next fiscal year.
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"It wasn't done lightly, though there should be some significant savings," said Al Tarcola, UA's director of facilities management. "The campus won't be as attractive as it normally is, but at this point people have to take precedence over grounds and flowers."
In fact, some members of the campus community raised that very issue as the institution began to implement budget cuts this year that call for laying off employees, Tarcola said.
"They're absolutely right," he said. "We've got to protect our staff and everybody else at the university first."
Shutting off the fountains allows the UA to save money on water, electricity and maintenance costs at a time when those expenses are increasing, Tarcola said.
While the UA uses water from its own wells, officials add city water to the institution's reservoirs each summer. On top of those costs, there's also money spent on maintaining pumps and other equipment associated with the fountains.
However, the UA will turn on two fountains to mark special occasions, the memo says.
The fountain in the Student Union Memorial Center will flow on Dec. 7 to commemorate the attacks on Pearl Harbor. And the Alumni Plaza Fountain in front of the Administration Building will be turned on during Homecoming and commencement.
On top of shutting down fountains, grounds crews won't be replacing grass on the UA Mall this summer — a process that's usually done each year after heavy foot traffic takes a toll on the grass.
Crews also will hold off on planting spring flowers around campus, with the lone exception of the fountain area in front of Old Main, the memo says. Even with the flowers, the fountain itself will stay off.
"We will do all that we can to keep our campus attractive and safe, but it is important for everyone on campus and in the community to understand that the budget cuts will result in changes to the way our campus looks," Valdez wrote in the memo.
The changes to the campus grounds are the latest in a series of cuts. Earlier this month, officials announced plans to close the Flandrau Science Center and scale back funding for performing-arts programs on campus.
Officials also plan to cut hours at the Arizona State Museum and the UA Museum of Art. Other steps include trimming expenses at all campus departments by 5 percent, merging four colleges into one large unit, and axing some agricultural outreach programs.
The cuts also will mean the loss of about 600 positions this year, though many of those jobs have gone unfilled for months. The remaining lost jobs will come in the form of layoffs, officials have said.
UA leaders have yet to provide specifics on how much each of the measures will save.
