Budget Advisory Committee

Senate Chambers

3 p.m.

1. Approval of February 23, 1999 Minutes

 

2. Budget Update, 1999-00

 

3. Request for Budget Input from Chancellor's Office, 2000-01

 

4. Review of Budget Data Elements

 

5. Other

Tentative Spring Meeting Schedule: (1^st & 4^th Tuesdays of each month)

February 2, February 23, March 2, March 23, April 27, May 4.

Tuesday, March 23, 1999

Senate Chambers, 3:00 P.M.

The meeting was called to order by John Roberts, Chair.

Members present: Maria Angel, Barbara Croteau (Co-Chair), Rosemary Darden, Paul Finn, Ken Fiori, Doug Garrison, Erin Parr, Sandi Tassano.

Members absent: Ed Buckley, Micca Gray, Ricardo Navarrette, Steve Olson, Ben Partee, Rich Rose, Ron Schuelke, Deborah Sweitzer, Caroline Tice.

Also present: Robert Agrella

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

Announcements:

Agenda item #4 (Review of Budget Data Elements) was deferred until the next meeting.

1. Approval of February 26, 1999 Minutes

It was M/S/C to approve the minutes of the February 26, 1999 meeting.

The budget roll occurred March 5, and Department budgets are due back in Business Services May 1, 1999. Dr. Roberts isn't aware of any community college proposals that have yet passed through legislative committees. It will probably be another week or two before they get to the finance committees. Joe Newmyer, former SRJC interim Vice President for Business Services, made a suggestion to the Chancellor similar to K-12 developing a deficit reduction proposal to get more base funding dollars into the budget. Consultation Council did not go along with that proposal, instead asking Districts not to lobby legislators in that regard. Dr. Roberts provided a handout from the Consultation Council (3/19/99) outlining a list of unranked priorities for budget augmentation. The community college system is getting less unrestricted revenue each year even for growth. Partnership for Excellence is important because it is theoretically unrestricted, and it seems to be the system's only hope this coming year. The COLA will cover step and column advancement on the salary schedule and benefits increases, leaving a very minor amount, if anything, for a salary increase. At this point it is fairly bleak in terms of ongoing base revenue funding. The one piece of optimism Dr. Roberts hears is that instead of the Governor's projected substantial deficit, it appears there now may be even a small surplus. There is some optimism that more P4E dollars will be available above what is in the Governor's proposal. Maria Angel detailed the students lobbying efforts in Sacramento and will provide Dr. Roberts with a copy of the letter they distributed last week to legislators. Ken Fiori asked the status on salary negotiations for the various groups. Dr. Roberts reported AFA has reached tentative agreement.

Copies of Dr. Roberts memo to President's Staff (Re: District Involvement in Developing the System's 2000-01 Budget Package) was distributed and includes his comments for consideration. The suggestions that Dr. Roberts included, listed by priority, include increasing unrestricted revenue¾ a hard sell to legislators who seem to want to approve dollars for very specific purposes. Related to that on a local level this district needs growth. Our enrollment has stabilized, but we need to get back into a growth mode. This district has made a specific planning commitment to the Partnership for Excellence program, and it needs to continue. It was disappointing that funding fell off as early as the second year. There is a significant legislative lobbying effort for full time faculty. There is a need to revisit the funding concept for Non Credit FTES. Responding to Doug Garrison's inquiry about progress from the task force studying growth computation, Dr. Roberts and Dr. Agrella have not seen any reports from that group so far. They will probably propose a change in the weighting of the blend of the three elements of the computation for growth. Dr. Roberts asked members to consult with their constituent groups on the budget input request prior to the next BAC meeting scheduled for April 27. Additional comments and suggestions should be sent to Barbara Croteau or Dr. Roberts. They will be compiled and sent in proper form to the President for transmittal to the Chancellor's Office. Please note the Chancellor's end-of-April deadline and get your comments in by April 15 so that they can be transmitted in a timely manner.

Meeting adjourned: 3:45 p.m.

NEXT MEETING

April 27, 1999

3:00 P.M.

SENATE CHAMBERS