Fifty UMass Boston employees take ‘buyouts’

As it sorts through turbulent fiscal times, the University of Massachusetts Boston campus announced Tuesday that more than $4 million in salary expenses are being cut through a voluntary employee buyout program. Fifty UMass Boston employees, including nine faculty members, submitted paperwork before a deadline last week to participate in the program, part of a larger effort to address a $30 million structural deficit. The program provides one-time incentive payments ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 and was open to almost 1,900 employees.

“UMass Boston possesses great wealth academically but is in significant distress financially, and we need to fix this for the sake of this critically important institution,” Interim Chancellor Barry Mills said in a statement.

In an email to the university Tuesday, Mills wrote: “Our university’s financial situation is precarious. Our deficit is real and structural, and many hard decisions will have to be made. I am sure that not everyone will agree with every decision that lies ahead -- but I do hope we will work together to ensure the long-term success of Boston’s public university.”

Villages: 


Subscribe to the Dorchester Reporter