The Board of Regents met yesterday at University of Wisconsin-Superior, beginning the first of a two-day monthly planning session for the UW System.

Thursday’s session began with a report clarifying the findings of a state audit done by the Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) concerning university-staffing levels. In September, UW System President Kevin Reilly defended UW’s method for assessing its administrative staffing, but agreed to send periodic reports to the state legislature and to seek additional guidance in coding contractual expenses.

The report, presented by State Auditor Janice Mueller, found the UW System devotes nearly four times as many financial and personnel resources as it formally counts and indicates roughly 25 percent of the UW System employees had administrative functions. This is a figure much higher than the 6.9 percent estimate the UW System originally provided.

Mueller said unlike other audits, the LAB’s way of measuring administrative costs was meant to function as a “springboard” for further discussion.

“It’s meant to illuminate staffing in a way [we’ve] not seen before,” she said.

She also pointed out the UW System is the state’s largest employer, giving jobs to 32,000 people. The review warranted “two views of the same picture,” said Mueller. The UW System spends five percent of its total budget on administration and this, in turn, is used as a measure by the federal government for colleges and universities.

However, Mueller warned that there could be limitations to this approach of looking at the administrative spending, since some employees are first counted as research or instructional staff, but may also have executive duties.

When adding other types of employees, such as program assistants, the review discovered that the university spends 15 percent of its budget on administration. This second quote was “a far more credible administrative figure for a large, complex organization like the University of Wisconsin System,” Mueller added.

The audit also found there was a significant growth in privately and federally funded positions, despite the fact faculty positions funded by the state were on the decline.

The Board of Regents maintained an optimistic view of the audit. Board of Regents President Toby E. Marcovich stressed the system’s intent to make good use of the audit.

“[I] do not want anyone to think that the UW System is trying to conceal any of the positions [they] have,” Marcovich added.

“It was a really good exchange in dialogue,” Doug Bradley, Vice President of University Relations, said.

The Physical Planning and Funding Committee also convened today to discuss future building projects. Assistant Vice President David Miller reported the Building Commission approved roughly $22 million worth of various projects at the committee’s September meeting.

The committee also authorized the construction of a residence hall at the Madison campus Kemp Natural Resources Station, with the use of gift and grant funds. The committee approved for a Middleton Library Renovation on the Madison campus and granted authority to increase the scope and budget of the Madison campus’s Biotechnology Building Addition project as well.

The Board of Regents will meet again today to continue discussions concerning the UW System.

Cynthia Martens contributed to this article