Budget Advisory Committee

BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 28, 2000

Senate Chambers, 3 p.m.

The meeting was called to order by Ron Root, Chair; Barbara Croteau (Co-Chair).

Members present: Craig Butcher (for Deborah Sweitzer), Christopher Chrystal, Rosemary Darden, Micca Gray, Curt Groninga, Ben Partee, Ron Schuelke, Sandi Tassano, Caroline Tice.

Members absent: Ed Buckley, LuAnn Campbell, Marty Carpenter (Ex Officio), Danielle Edwards, Paul Finn, Doug Garrison, M. Lee, Ricardo Navarrette, Ed Sikes.

Staff to the Committee: K. Bradbury, E. Cichocki, R. Kyle.

Note: Correct spelling of student representative's name- Christopher Chrystal. Minutes approved.

Curt Groninga explained the process used to develop the list of projects requiring District matching funds, which was provided by Lamont Royer for BAC review. The list of projects includes both Capital Outlay Projects and Scheduled Maintenance projects (i.e. repairs, replacement of items that have outlived their useful lives, etc.). The Facilities Review Group, in concert with Jay Carpenter, LuAnn Campbell, and the District Facilities Planning Committee (including representatives from all campus groups), reviews all proposals annually and forwards them on to the Board Facilities Committee. The Board of Trustees must then approve the final recommendations for Scheduled Maintenance and the Capital Outlay Five-Year Plan. The state does not fund parking and transportation issues. Hazardous Materials projects are, however, fully funded. The District expects to hear in mid to late May on its current proposal. The District then has 2.5 years in which to complete the funded projects. Since a backlog of unfunded maintenance projects is growing and while the history of the college has been to match the state's funding, there may be a point at which the budget can no longer support these matches. The growing shortage of state and local funds for capital outlay creates a need to seriously consider a bond election.

Eileen Cichocki explained that Business Services has distributed budget materials and is now waiting for the departments to develop their budgets, review with appropriate administrators and return the materials. A tentative budget will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for action at the June Board meeting giving approval for the district to continue operations into the new fiscal year beginning July 1. The final budget will probably be going to the Board in September for adoption. Ron Root mentioned that the Budget Workshop appearing on the 2000/01 Tentative Budget Calendar might not be held. Because labor negotiations are still not settled, the question of whether or not there will be any budget increases to the 2XXX's, 4XXX's and 5XXX's budget categories remains uncertain.

Eileen Cichocki reviewed Revenue and Expenditure Assumptions reflecting prior BAC discussions that will be followed as the Tentative Budget is developed. She noted that the items listed on the Revenue side of the handout are new revenue. Under the Assumptions, Passive Costs include such things as step, salary, professional growth increments, class movements, changes in benefits, etc. The Capital Outlay Match Requirements projection for $747,000 is expected to fund all 10 projects on the Capital Projects Listing (See Agenda Item #2) should they be funded. Also listed on the handout were "Other Items in Governor's Budget" which are not FTE funded, but allocated on a project by project basis. Relating to the Expenditure side, Ron Root noted that dental costs are expected to rise 4 to 6% and health costs in the range of 7 to 9%.

Ron Root suggested looking at enrollment patterns as part of the evaluation of fiscal trends for the institution. Enrollments for the last six Fall and Spring semesters are shown on the handout. The observation was made that the changes are virtually identical for both semesters throughout most of the six-year history. There seems to be a notion that the college has grown over the decade, but this is not borne out by the numbers. The last three years decreased a bit, and it might not be reasonable to assume any significant growth in credit hours for the near future. A budget assumption has been made for several years that average section size would be the same as the 1994-95 base year, which is not the case. The fiscal impact of this assumption has been estimated at almost $750,000.

Ron Root briefly recapped part of last meeting's discussion on this topic. He provided a handout of the current committee function and description. IPC has charged four committees (FPC, BAC, EMG, EPCC) to draw a closer link to planning and budgeting decisions. Ron Root suggested that BAC's role should be to assist the President and IPC in understanding the budget impact and feasibility of some of the plans that come out of these groups. He will provide a Draft Committee Description for review at the next meeting which more accurately reflects the emerging role of this committee. Additionally, the committee's meeting schedule will be considered.

Meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.