RADFORD -- A subcommittee of the Radford University Board of Visitors recommended approval Wednesday of a $156.6 million budget that includes cuts mandated in September by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Radford's proposed budget minimizes potential layoffs and strives to prepare the university for both the anticipated drying of up federal stimulus money by 2011 and an eventual economic recovery, Chief Financial Officer Richard Alvarez said.

The full board is set to vote on the budget today at its 9 a.m. meeting in Martin Hall.

Under the current budget plan, five or fewer people would be laid off, despite a need to cut more than 50 positions from the payroll, Alvarez said.

Twenty-five of the positions to be cut are currently vacant. The rest are expected to be voluntarily eliminated, if administrators and faculty who qualify for state retirement incentives take them, Alvarez told the business affairs subcommittee.

No current full-time faculty members will be cut under the plan, Alvarez said. But the numbers could change if not all of those who expressed interest in the incentives actually retire, he cautioned.

Alvarez said the budget team worked hard to protect students by minimizing cuts to the faculty.

"You've done so well," board member Walter Rugaber told Alvarez. Rugaber is a former publisher of The Roanoke Times.

The budget is the product of strategic planning by the administration in concert with state budget officials, Alvarez said.

President Penelope Kyle's extensive contacts in Richmond were a big help during the process, he told the subcommittee.

"Overall, the effect of these cuts has been devastating," university spokesman Jeff Douglas said after the meeting. "But we're doing the best we can to make the best of a tough situation."

Kaine mandated cuts of up to 15 percent for all state-supported colleges and universities to help offset a $1.35 billion revenue shortfall. Radford's share was $6.4 million. Virginia Tech was slashed by $21.8 million.

Federal stimulus funds will cushion the blow slightly in the short term. But Alvarez told the subcommittee that the university must find ways to increase revenues or make additional cuts to cover a $3 million gap.

The gap is expected to be filled temporarily by stimulus funds, he said. But the board eventually will have to consider tuition and enrollment increases, or further cuts, to balance the budget.