MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin’s reputation, when it comes to honesty and transparency, may be taking another serious hit.

Last week university officials told reporters that it would not release the details of UW’s proposed 2016-17 budget until shortly before the Board of Regents voted on it Thursday, because it was still in the final preparation phase.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Now observers have discovered that the budget document was last modified on June 3, almost a week before the Board of Regents approved it last Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The university’s refusal to share the budget proposal denied citizens the opportunity to inspect the details, and share any thoughts or concerns with members of the Board of Regents before they voted.

The refusal may also have violated the law. The Wisconsin State Journal claimed that it requested a copy of the proposed budget under the legally-binding state open records law, but received nothing from the university.

The Board of Regents approved a $6.23 billion budget, which is $34 million more than the previous year, despite a $250 million two-year cut in state funding that UW officials loudly protested.

The new budget includes an increase in student fees on campuses across the state, as well as the use of university reserve funds to cover what would have been a budget deficit.

The existence of those reserve funds – described by some as a UW “slush fund’ – was not discovered until 2013 during a financial audit of the university. Many citizens and public officials criticized UW for not disclosing the reserve money, particularly while lobbying the state for more financial support and an increase in the cost of student tuition.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Now UW officials will be asked to respond to the fact that their proposed budget was completed almost a week before the Board of Regents vote, but withheld until it was too late for public inspection or comment.

According to the Journal-Sentinel, “The annual operating budget that University of Wisconsin System officials refused to release publicly until 90 minutes before the Board of Regents approved it was actually finalized last week, contrary to what a system spokesman implied while explaining the delay to reporters…

“The time stamp of the final modification to the budget document is contained in its meta data, which summarizes basic information about the document’s creation. The document was last modified June 3 at 2:07:58 p.m. and was released to the public six days later, at 1:58 p.m. Thursday.

“Within an hour of its public release, while the regents were discussing the budget in their meeting at UW-Milwaukee, an individual concerned about the way it was being handled opened a PDF of the document and traced the final modification through its meta data. That employee shared the information with Eric Sandgren, a professor in the UW-Madison Veterinary School.

“Sandgren independently confirmed it, and so did the Journal Sentinel.”