With natural gas costs up 55 percent and the fiscal-year end less than six months away, University administration is raising awareness of the University’s current budget shortfall.

According to Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Kevin MacNaughton, the University expects to exceed its utilities budget by $5 million.

The shortfall amount is based on projections and the cost of electricity and natural gas.

For about 10 days over the winter holidays, some buildings on campus lowered thermostats to work towards cutting costs.

An email from Provost Larry Nielsen and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business notified the campus community and advised staff and faculty members to dress appropriately because of the adjustment of the thermostats.

Although temperatures were reduced to almost 55 degrees, much of the staff and faculty said didn’t have complaints.

“The weather has been mild enough to where we didn’t really find any difference,” said Cindy Reilly, the student services assistant for crop science in Williams Hall.

“I did dress more warmly when I got the advisory and do know that we are in an older section of the building, which may have resulted as to why it wasn’t as cold as we expected,” Reilly said.

Keith Kapral, a sophomore in aerospace engineering and a library assistant at D.H. Hill, said he didn’t feel much of a difference either.

“I worked four days throughout that period and there wasn’t that much discomfort,” Kapral said.

Kapral said that closer to the exits it was colder with people coming in and out, but for the most part that could be taken care of with keeping jackets on when near the exits.

Rachel McLaughlin, an administrative assistant for the Department of Horticulture in Kilgore Hall, said that the temperatures didn’t affect her when she was working.

“Since the temperatures were pleasant outside for the most part, it didn’t really affect the temperature inside the building,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said that housekeeping came in much earlier than much of the staff and faculty and they may have had more adjustments to make.

According to Chuck Shaw, the depute assistant director in housekeeping, his staff had no complaints that he knew of.

But Dante Strobino, a graduate student in electrical engineering, said the conditions in which housekeepers had to work were unpleasant and unfair.

“There was no mention of health concern in the [Provost’s] e-mail that was sent out,” Strobino said. “Workers were told to bundle up while they were working.”

Strobino said housekeepers decided to organize a petition drive to make their voices heard.

“In a matter of three days we had almost 150 signatures,” Strobino said.

Strobino got involved with representing the workers through his work with the Student Worker Alliance.

He said the workers do have a voice, one he claims is “systematically denied” by the University over and over again.

“There is plenty of opportunity all over this campus to invest in sustainable energy,” Strobino said. “The University can shut down on administration leave if they want to cut energy costs.”

MacNaughton said that although mandatory temperature setbacks could be a possibility in the future, they won’t be as low as they were during the holidays, since he said buildings were vacant for the most part.

One of the next steps to compensating for the shortfall, according to MacNaughton, is a conservation awareness campaign.

“The conservation awareness campaign is one of the key factors in our success to curb costs,” MacNaughton said.

According to MacNaughton, everyone being mindful of their actions is going to make a big difference.

“Little things like keeping windows closed, turning off lights and computers when we are no longer using them will make a huge difference and involve the entire campus,” MacNaughton said. “Many hands make light work.”

MacNaughton said there are plans to work closely with the staff and faculty senates to confer ideas.

“We know that a lot of good ideas can come from people on campus, including the student body,” MacNaughton said.

MacNaughton said voluntarily keeping the thermostat at a comfortable temperature is something that all students, staff and faculty members should be mindful of.

“The key thing is to have awareness, leading us to be as prudent and as helpful as we can be in curbing consumption,” MacNaughton said.

Ultimately, MacNaughton said the North Carolina General Assembly may have to be approached.

“By taking appropriate actions and doing everything that we can do, we are gaining credibility with the legislature,” MacNaughton said.