CHARLESTON - Eastern Illinois University and Lake Land College may be asked to return 2.5 percent of their budgets and officials said it would hamper maintenance projects and filling employee vacancies.

The Blagojevich administration last week told the schools to consider holding 2.5 percent of their budgets in reserve, should the funds be needed later to plug holes in the state's budget. That would amount to $1.3 million for Eastern, while it would be $300,000 for Lake Land.

Officials at the schools said they have only received requests, not demands, to hold back the money at this point, although they are starting to prepare for the worst.

"We're running various scenarios," said Jeff Cooley, vice president for Business Affairs at Eastern. "Any time you make cuts of this magnitude this time of year, it's going to have a negative effect."

"We don't know what the end number will be," Cooley said, adding that Eastern was asked to reserve one-twelfth of its budget last year, but "it didn't come to fruition."

Losing that much money might force Eastern to delay work on non-safety-related maintenance projects, filling personnel vacancies and purchasing equipment.

"Those are the options we're looking at right now … We just received the memo, and we're trying to come up with, 'What can we forestall?'"

A 2.5 percent payback will produce serious "belt tightening" for Lake Land, said Vice President of Business Services Ray Rieck. But it will not lead to eliminating faculty or staff positions or class sessions.

"That is a lot of money, just a little less than $300,000, but what we're thinking is if everyone works toward this we can do it through supply and travel lines. If some trip is already booked, OK, but if one is not necessary then we would hold off. And the same can be said with equipment purchases or replacements. We will do it only if it is needed," Rieck said.

He said the timing of the payback announcement from state officials was good. "To be honest I'd rather know now than in April. By then a sizable portion of our budget cannot be rolled back. Now we can do it," Rieck said.

But additional budget payback requests or outright budget cuts in state funding could hurt in coming months, he said.

nwest@jg-tc.com|238-6860 and hmeeker@jg-tc.com|238-6869