Lincoln University's College of Agriculture, Environmental and Human Sciences has only enough money to pay seven months' salary, if the state does not fulfill its matching obligation to the university, Dean Albert E. Essel announced Friday.
Although LU's budget year ends June 30, 2017, President Kevin Rome told faculty and staff in a Friday email that was forwarded to the News Tribune the remaining seven months' salary is in the land grant program's "federal fiscal budget, which began on October 1 of this year."
On July 7, Gov. Jay Nixon withheld $115.5 million from various state agencies for 131 different state programs, including $1 million of the $1.5 million additional spending lawmakers gave to Lincoln University as its match for federal land grant program funds.
LU officials had worked with lawmakers - including state Rep. Jay Barnes and state Sen. Mike Kehoe, both Jefferson City Republicans - to get the money added to the Legislature-passed budget.
While Nixon signed that budget in June, he told reporters in July as he announced the withholdings they were necessary because of lower-than-expected revenue growth.
"These modest restrictions are being applied to new programs or increased spending for existing programs," the governor said in July, "and they protect the priorities that we share."
In his email to faculty and staff on Friday, Rome noted Lincoln receives $7 million in federal funding, "with the state expected to match it dollar-for-dollar."
He added: "Should the withholding continue beyond Nixon's last day in office, there is a very real possibility of layoffs in the spring."
Rome long has argued LU never has received its full match, while the University of Missouri's match is built into its core budget and has been for many years.
Both state schools are federally designated land grant universities - MU as part of an 1862 federal law and Lincoln as part of an 1890 law that added historically black colleges and universities to the federal program.
Essel said in a news release late Friday afternoon unless Nixon releases the promised $1 million match to USDA federal funds, his department faces a $2 million deficit.
"Without the matching funds we were promised, we are in a critical deficit mode," Essel explained. "My primary goal is to cover payroll."
Rome said the $2 million deficit is "due to federal match requirements."
Earlier this month, Essel told employees of the college and Cooperative Extension and Research throughout the state there was a hiring freeze - but it only was announced to the public Friday.
On Friday, Essel said his announcement of the hiring freeze and possible layoffs was part of an effort to maintain complete transparency in the process.
At a news conference a month ago, Rome told reporters while the school would like to have more money, "I think, as a state institution, we're better off than most state institutions in other states.
"We're not in a position where we are laying off faculty or staff because of financial problems that we have. At this point, we're paying our bills.
"We're able to operate; we're paying our faculty and staff. So, I wouldn't say that we had a financial hardship."
He told the faculty and staff in his email Friday: "This is an extremely unfortunate position for us to be in, as our land grant status is one of the core foundations of our historic university.
"While we remain optimistic the current governor will release these funds, we must also be proactive and transparent in how we must move forward in the event that does not happen.
"Dr. Essel and his staff have been working diligently looking for ways to deal with this shortfall and will continue to do so."