SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE
BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Senate Chambers, 2:30 p.m.
The meeting was called to order by Ron Root, Chair; Barbara Croteau (Co-Chair).
Members present: Tiffany Buckley, Craig Butcher, Micca Gray, Maryanne Michaels, Larry Stimach.
Members absent: M. Bennett (Ex-Officio), Luann Campbell, Andrew Glass, Xuan Ho, M. Lee, Deborah Sweitzer, Sandi Tassano, Mabruka Yazidi.
Staff to the Committee: K. Bradbury, E. Cichocki, R. Kyle, L. Royer.
Announcements:
1. Introductions: New and returning committee members and staff introductions were made.
2. Addition to Agenda: Item #4, Non-Resident Tuition Fee moved to second agenda item.
November 28, 2000 minutes were adopted without comment or objection.
4. Non Resident Tuition Fee, 2001-02
Lamont Royer explained that once a year each community college in the state is required to set their Non Resident Tuition rate for the coming year by February 1st (or, by the first Board meeting in February). There are four options for establishing the fee listed on the Board item draft he distributed for the committee's review, and the district rate is established by looking at the contiguous districts' rates for 2001-02: Marin, $159; Napa Valley, $134, Mendocino-Lake, $145; and Redwoods, $151. The rate being recommending is $140/unit which is less than the three contiguous districts and is the equivalent of last year's rate of $134/unit plus the 2000-01 State COLA of 4.17%. The district may also charge foreign students an additional amount for capital outlay, which is proposed to increase from $11/unit to $13/unit. For future reference Lamont Royer will look into whether Solano is a contiguous district. The recommendation has been discussed with Student Activities and Student Government Assembly representatives.
Lamont Royer gave an update on the proposed 2001-02 state budget. Attachments to the agenda were provided for the committee's review. Lamont reported that the Workshop on the Governor's Budget recently held in Sacramento was a disappointment in that no new budget information became available. The handouts reflect all the information the Business Office has at this time. Lamont noted that while the state has predicted increases in the Sonoma County adult population and high schools graduates, SRJC has not realized growth in enrollment and will probably not be able to capture the revenue potential. The COLA for 01-02 is down from the current 4.17% to 3.91%. Partnership for Excellence was not included in the Governor's budget proposal. Non-credit enhancements was eliminated from the Governor's budget, which is significant for SRJC since we are among the top 10 colleges in which non-credit programs rank highest in percentage of the total program. Also significant for SRJC is the absence of funding for Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Program.
Concern was expressed for the need to present a collective voice of community colleges' budgetary needs to the legislature.
Arising from a Board discussion last summer about a decline in the fund balance, the Trustees set a goal for the President to present, by March 1, 2001, a report examining district historical and projected revenues and expenditures, enrollment patterns, and other variables to evaluate and ensure the long-term fiscal stability of the college. Ron Root has collected data covering the past decade and what economists are predicting for the coming decade. From that data he has attempted to extrapolate what is going to happen in the next few years. The Chancellor's Office has predicted that SRJC would grow, but it has not substantially materialized. The question about why that growth has not occurred might need to be addressed. Ron's intent was to walk BAC through the charts he handed out at today's meeting in hopes of seeing relationships in the data presented. The committee's observations and questions were welcomed. Charts reflecting Sonoma County's population projections, young population, unemployment rate, workforce with college degree, tech industries that are driving the local economy, labor force and wage growth annual percentage change, and SRJC's full-time faculty by age were reviewed. The presumption was that the higher cost of living in Silicon Valley will favor Sonoma County as a location for the telecom industry. Sonoma County is bucking a national trend as the percentage of population under 25 increases. The unemployment rate was down, but may be affected by the recent energy crunch. The presumption is that a poor economy drives college enrollments up, but that was not supported with figures. Do the cost of housing and the cost of recruitment of new teachers affect these issues?
While BAC is a reference point, they will not review the report in its final form. It is anticipated that the study will help dispel any myths that may have arisen over the years, and create positive dialogue as a result.
The Solvency Report review and discussion will be continued at the next meeting.
Meeting adjourned: 4:05 p.m.
Next Meetings: Tuesday, January 30, 2001, 2:30 p.m. - Senate Chambers
Friday, February 9, 10:00 a.m. - Senate Chambers
NO AGENDA FOR 1/30/01 MEETING
(Continuation of 1/23/01 Discussions)
SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE
BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tuesday, January 30, 2001
Senate Chambers, 2:30 p.m.
The meeting was called to order by Ron Root, Chair; Barbara Croteau (Co-Chair).
Members present: Tiffany Buckley, Craig Butcher, Luann Campbell, Maryanne Michaels, Larry Stimach, Sandi Tassano.
Also present: Robert Agrella
Members absent: M. Bennett (Ex-Officio), Micca Gray, Xuan Ho, M. Lee, Deborah Sweitzer, Mabruka Yazidi.
Staff to the Committee: R. Kyle, L. Royer.
January 23, 2001 minutes were adopted without comment or objection.
The discussion continued on the charts presented at the last meeting in support of the work-in-progress Fiscal Solvency Report. The timeline is to present the report to the Board at a special open study session before the regular Board meeting in March. The full report will contain a narrative associated with each of the charts. Ron Root noted that a couple of observations that were made at the last meeting were included in the narratives. The committee's comments and observations are helpful in seeing trends and relationships in the data presented.
Fiscal year 1996-97 was the highest enrollment credit FTES year in the past decade. In addition, it was a good funding year since the college was able to take advantage of growth dollars available by transferring FTES from the ensuing summer academic period. To avoid transferring enrollment each year, the state funding for enrollment growth would have to stop altogether or SRJC would need to grow beyond the funded growth cap. During 1996-97 the District also realized the benefit of bringing Petaluma and Coddingtown on line. Since then there has been a slight decline in funded FTES. Also noted was the considerable funded non-credit FTES growth in the last four fiscal years, which is funded at a rate about 55% of credit FTES. Approximately 85% of funded non-credit is offered at locations other than the two main campuses, and about one-third is generated in the Seniors Program. It has been demonstrated that it is less cost effective to offer instruction at sites other than the two main campuses. The number of students per parking space in the evening program has remained about the same for the past decade; however, the day program has risen from 6.5 to almost 8 students per space. The effects of the parking situation on enrollment cannot be proven, but support the idea that enrollment has been stagnant on the Santa Rosa campus because of perceived parking problems. The combined total funded FTES has been down the last four years. SRJC did not earn all the possible state funding for growth, a potential revenue loss of $12 million over the last four years. A small decline since 1993 in the average units enrolled could have resulted in an additional $3 million revenue. The data seems to indicate that students took more units when the unemployment rate was higher in the early 1990's. The chart on full-time student and average units enrolled seems to support improved retention. The enrollment decline of 21 to 40 year-olds may be explained by the good economy. A four-year pattern on the relationship between spring Sonoma County high school graduates and the percent enrolling at SRJC the following fall indicated a significant decline. Increases in Hispanic and Asian student populations have implications for ESL and other programs.
The Foundation has averaged 11% return on investments, greater than their 9% target for non-Doyle funds. It was suggested that a chart be added illustrating the Doyle Trust assets and revenue.
The Legislative Analyst's Office projection of major general fund revenue increases over the next six years is fairly optimistic, but was done prior to the energy crisis. If the state had funded COLA at the CPI level for the past decade and if the college had attained fully funded growth, it would have meant an additional $13.4 million in base revenue for the District. In comparing general fund revenue sources for the last five years, the amount of unrestricted funding has declined by 8% while the number of categorical programs has grown from 17 in 1994/95 to 31 at present. Partnership for Excellence designated funds have more flexibility than categorical funding, but still come with strings attached. The district has been cautious about putting the dollars into faculty and staff in part due to the fact that a COLA has not been attached. P4E has been having a greater and greater impact on SRJC's general fund budget.
The costs of fringe benefits are on the rise: Kaiser, 16% increase; HPR, 26%; Dental, 6% this year. Gas and electric expenditure history will be projected out 10 years to reflect new buildings coming on-line. Energy costs are estimated to potentially double from $1 million to $2 million next year alone. The district is averaging $1 million to $2 million annually on maintenance and renovation expenditures. Planned facilities projects include the Learning Resource Center and Petaluma Phase II. Salary, CPI, and State COLA patterns indicate that even with the non-COLA years during the past decade, average wage increases have kept pace.
After the final chart was reviewed and discussed and the committee's appraisal of the material concluded, Ron Root noted that one of the clear messages from this analysis is that the college may not be able to operate on the same basis as it has in the past years. There are increases in expenditures, revenues are flat, and the capital needs of the institution are creating a greater and greater burden on the general fund.
Meeting adjourned: 4:30 p.m.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 27, 2001, 2:30 p.m. - Senate Chambers
Posted by mlinford at January 23, 2001 12:00 PM