Texas A&M System's payroll falls 3 percent

The A&M System's annual local payroll for all its employees, including students, fell about 3 percent to $860 million last year, reflecting a budget cut that led to position reductions, according to university data released last week.

The $25 million decrease came as nearly 900 faculty, staff and student positions were eliminated in cuts that went into effect this biennium, or the two-year period that began in September.

The 11-university A&M System -- which is headquartered in College Station, where its flagship campus is -- reduced the number of employees on its local payroll from nearly 23,300 to 22,400.

A breakdown of how many in each category wasn't immediately available, but according to a report last year, 317 staff and 253 faculty positions were lost just at the College Station campus between fall 2010 and fall 2011. In addition, 105 tenured professors took a buyout under the Voluntary Separation Program.

The payroll figures were part of an annual in-house study released by Texas A&M about the university and its related agencies' financial impact on Bryan, College Station and surrounding areas.

Overall, according to the study, the A&M System had an impact of $3.76 billion on the local economy, slightly larger than last year's record of $3.73 billion.

That includes a multiplier effect -- the number of times a dollar is spent as it passes through the local economy -- of 2.5 applied to the System's $1.5 billion direct impact.

The increase in economic impact despite the position reductions reflects the increase in students and visitors during sports games and other campus events.

"While the economic outlook is difficult to predict," said A&M System Chancellor John Sharp in a release, "our focus on affordability should enable us to deliver positive returns and a net improvement in economic impact to the Bryan/College Station community."