Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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Bjornsson, Chris |
Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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Hallo,
I've been tasked by our institution to determine how compltely other core facilities are supported by user fees. Primarily they'd like to know what % cost recovery (non-salary) is achieved through user fees, but of course the more information the better. Any information that anyone would be willing to divulge would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, cheers, Chris Chris Bjornsson Director, Microscopy & Imaging Research Core Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Room 2149 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180 ph. 518-276-3456 |
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Glen MacDonald-2 |
Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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Dear Chris,
The operational costs of the 2 core facilities with which I work are funded largely by P30 funds from 2 different NIH institutes. The only cost recovery is an hourly fee on our newest confocal to cover its service contract. The other service contracts are for software, and are modest enough that they are rolled into operating costs. Regards, Glen Glen MacDonald Core for Communication Research Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center Box 357923 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7923 USA (206) 616-4156 [hidden email] ****************************************************************************** The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh. ****************************************************************************** On Nov 5, 2008, at 6:53 AM, Bjornsson, Chris wrote: > Hallo, > > I've been tasked by our institution to determine how compltely other > core facilities are supported by user fees. Primarily they'd like to > know what % cost recovery (non-salary) is achieved through user > fees, but of course the more information the better. Any information > that anyone would be willing to divulge would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, cheers, > Chris > > Chris Bjornsson > Director, Microscopy & Imaging Research Core > Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology > Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Room 2149 > Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute > 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180 > ph. 518-276-3456 |
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Rosemary.White |
Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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Dear Chris,
Fortunately for us, our admin decided to fund our facility entirely from overheads, except for external users. Nothing special about us except that we cost less than $1 million per year to run, and they decided it wasn't worth the salary time to do cost recovery this way (thank goodness for the occasional flash of common sense!) considering that total institutional turnover is something above $100 million p.a. With salaries, instrument depreciation, leasing of premises, utilities costs, consumables, etc. we cost about $600k p.a. We have a full extended warranty on our confocal at about $25k p.a. - well worth it, and a service contract on the new SEM. We still have a usage tracking system to justify new/replacement instruments. It does mean that everyone pays, whether they use the facility or not, but then again, we also pay for purchase of new combine harvesters, tractors, deep sequencers and glasshouses via overheads, so it works out in the end. cheers, Rosemary Rosemary White CSIRO Plant Industry GPO Box 1600 Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia ph 61 2 6246 5475 fx 61 2 6246 5334 ________________________________________ From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Glen MacDonald [[hidden email]] Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2008 4:30 a.m. To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery Dear Chris, The operational costs of the 2 core facilities with which I work are funded largely by P30 funds from 2 different NIH institutes. The only cost recovery is an hourly fee on our newest confocal to cover its service contract. The other service contracts are for software, and are modest enough that they are rolled into operating costs. Regards, Glen Glen MacDonald Core for Communication Research Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center Box 357923 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7923 USA (206) 616-4156 [hidden email] ****************************************************************************** The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh. ****************************************************************************** On Nov 5, 2008, at 6:53 AM, Bjornsson, Chris wrote: > Hallo, > > I've been tasked by our institution to determine how compltely other > core facilities are supported by user fees. Primarily they'd like to > know what % cost recovery (non-salary) is achieved through user > fees, but of course the more information the better. Any information > that anyone would be willing to divulge would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, cheers, > Chris > > Chris Bjornsson > Director, Microscopy & Imaging Research Core > Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology > Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Room 2149 > Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute > 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180 > ph. 518-276-3456 |
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Susan Anderson |
Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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Is anybody else trying to recover salaries in addition to operational
costs (consumables, service contracts, repairs) from hourly charges for instrument and staff time? Susan Dr S I Anderson CEO Head of Advanced Microscopy University of Nottingham School of Biomedical Sciences E100, E Floor, Medical School, Queens Medical Centre Nottingham NG7 2UH Tel: 0115 8230165 http://microscopy.nottingham.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of [hidden email] Sent: 05 November 2008 21:35 To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery Dear Chris, Fortunately for us, our admin decided to fund our facility entirely from overheads, except for external users. Nothing special about us except that we cost less than $1 million per year to run, and they decided it wasn't worth the salary time to do cost recovery this way (thank goodness for the occasional flash of common sense!) considering that total institutional turnover is something above $100 million p.a. With salaries, instrument depreciation, leasing of premises, utilities costs, consumables, etc. we cost about $600k p.a. We have a full extended warranty on our confocal at about $25k p.a. - well worth it, and a service contract on the new SEM. We still have a usage tracking system to justify new/replacement instruments. It does mean that everyone pays, whether they use the facility or not, but then again, we also pay for purchase of new combine harvesters, tractors, deep sequencers and glasshouses via overheads, so it works out in the end. cheers, Rosemary Rosemary White CSIRO Plant Industry GPO Box 1600 Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia ph 61 2 6246 5475 fx 61 2 6246 5334 ________________________________________ From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Glen MacDonald [[hidden email]] Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2008 4:30 a.m. To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery Dear Chris, The operational costs of the 2 core facilities with which I work are funded largely by P30 funds from 2 different NIH institutes. The only cost recovery is an hourly fee on our newest confocal to cover its service contract. The other service contracts are for software, and are modest enough that they are rolled into operating costs. Regards, Glen Glen MacDonald Core for Communication Research Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center Box 357923 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7923 USA (206) 616-4156 [hidden email] ************************************************************************ ****** The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh. ************************************************************************ ****** On Nov 5, 2008, at 6:53 AM, Bjornsson, Chris wrote: > Hallo, > > I've been tasked by our institution to determine how compltely other > core facilities are supported by user fees. Primarily they'd like to > know what % cost recovery (non-salary) is achieved through user fees, > but of course the more information the better. Any information that > anyone would be willing to divulge would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, cheers, > Chris > > Chris Bjornsson > Director, Microscopy & Imaging Research Core Research Assistant > Professor, Department of Biology Center for Biotechnology and > Interdisciplinary Studies, Room 2149 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute > 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180 ph. 518-276-3456 This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses, which could damage your computer system: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation. |
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We have a Wellcome Trust grant that pays my salary for 3.5 more years, during which time we only use the users' fees to pay for equipment repair and upgrade, as well as some consumables. After the grant period expires, users' fees will be at least one of the sources of money for my salary. Keep those fingers crossed, I guess...
Zoltan
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Zoltan Cseresnyes Facility Manager, Imaging Suite Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3EJ United Kingdom On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:47 AM, Susan Anderson <[hidden email]> wrote: Is anybody else trying to recover salaries in addition to operational -- Zoltan Cseresnyes Facility manager, Imaging Suite |
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Jerry Sedgewick-2 |
Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery
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In reply to this post by Susan Anderson
The consequence, of course, is that of being understaffed and of decisions being made on an ad hoc basis versus longer term vision and planning. The other consequence is that of staying behind with new equipment and consequent reproaches by funding agencies. The best scenario for any research center is a well-funded and staffed core facility, as this scenario will more likely lead to more grants for every user, but getting administrators on the same page with actual dollars committed is the challenge. Jerry Susan Anderson wrote: Is anybody else trying to recover salaries in addition to operational costs (consumables, service contracts, repairs) from hourly charges for instrument and staff time? Susan Dr S I Anderson CEO Head of Advanced Microscopy University of Nottingham School of Biomedical Sciences E100, E Floor, Medical School, Queens Medical Centre Nottingham NG7 2UH Tel: 0115 8230165 http://microscopy.nottingham.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of [hidden email] Sent: 05 November 2008 21:35 To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery Dear Chris, Fortunately for us, our admin decided to fund our facility entirely from overheads, except for external users. Nothing special about us except that we cost less than $1 million per year to run, and they decided it wasn't worth the salary time to do cost recovery this way (thank goodness for the occasional flash of common sense!) considering that total institutional turnover is something above $100 million p.a. With salaries, instrument depreciation, leasing of premises, utilities costs, consumables, etc. we cost about $600k p.a. We have a full extended warranty on our confocal at about $25k p.a. - well worth it, and a service contract on the new SEM. We still have a usage tracking system to justify new/replacement instruments. It does mean that everyone pays, whether they use the facility or not, but then again, we also pay for purchase of new combine harvesters, tractors, deep sequencers and glasshouses via overheads, so it works out in the end. cheers, Rosemary Rosemary White CSIRO Plant Industry GPO Box 1600 Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia ph 61 2 6246 5475 fx 61 2 6246 5334 ________________________________________ From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Glen MacDonald [[hidden email]] Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2008 4:30 a.m. To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Trying to benchmark cost recovery Dear Chris, The operational costs of the 2 core facilities with which I work are funded largely by P30 funds from 2 different NIH institutes. The only cost recovery is an hourly fee on our newest confocal to cover its service contract. The other service contracts are for software, and are modest enough that they are rolled into operating costs. Regards, Glen Glen MacDonald Core for Communication Research Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center Box 357923 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7923 USA (206) 616-4156 [hidden email] ************************************************************************ ****** The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh. ************************************************************************ ****** On Nov 5, 2008, at 6:53 AM, Bjornsson, Chris wrote: -- Jerry (Gerald) Sedgewick Program Director, Biomedical Image Processing Lab (BIPL) Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota 312 Church St. SE, 1-205 Hasselmo Hall Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612) 624-6607 [hidden email] http://www.bipl.umn.edu Author: "Scientific Imaging with Photoshop: Methods, Measurement and Output." Rawlight.com (dba Sedgewick Initiatives) 965 Cromwell Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55114 [hidden email] (651) 308-1466 http://www.quickphotoshop.com http://www.heartFROMstone.com http://www.rawlight.com --- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! --- |
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