BUDGET PLANNING COMMITTEE
Special Work Session
Sunday, February 26, 2012
12:00 p.m.
Eureka Downtown Site
Summary Notes
Final
MEMBERS PRESENT
Rebecca Ashbach, MaryGrace Barrick, Bob Brown, Solomon
DeCamp (phone), Michael Dennis, Tami Engman, Tim Flanagan,
Pat Girczyc, David Gonsalves, Anita Janis, Lee Lindsey,
Tami Matsumoto, Keith Snow-Flamer, Steve Stratton, Lorie
Walsh and Maggie White.
ALSO PRESENT
Michelle Hancock (phone)
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by committee co-chair Bob
Brown.
DISCUSSION
REVIEW OF BPC
PRIORITIZATION
PROCESS/MEMBERSHIP
LIST
BUDGET UPDATE
Lee reviewed the committee’s prioritization process and
membership list. He reminded everyone in attendance of the
committee’s charge and role it plays in the planning process.
Lee reported that the news from the Chancellor’s office continues
to be pessimistic and there is also cause for concern regarding the
tax measures on the November ballot. He explained the
apportionment model noting that it uses estimates of tuition and
property tax rates and the state’s revenue continues to be lower
than expected, which means less funding.
He also reported some good news regarding 2010/11 final
recalculation apportionment from the Chancellor’s office noting
that it will be $167,000 more than originally expected, as shown in
handout.
Lee reviewed the Preliminary Draft CR Revenue Forecast handout
which shows best and worst case budget scenarios. He noted that
4,548 is our FTES target for 2012/13 and it will be necessary for
EMC to recalculate the FTES TLU Allocation Projections again.
The handout shows on the revenue side a cut of $169,000 as best
case and a cut of $1.5M as worst case. It is likely that the district
will have increasing costs associated with state unemployment
insurance and employee health benefits and the budget may be
$1.9-$3M out of balance.
There was discussion regarding closing the 101 Corridor sites and
the impact it will have on the budget. There will be a cost savings
associated with closing the Arcata and McKinleyville sites. Lee
informed the committee that in order to maintain a presence
Downtown, he will meet with the owners of the current Eureka
Downtown site to attempt to re-negotiate the lease; if that is not
successful, we might move to a different location downtown.
The district needs to increase the revenue of its auxiliary programs
(dorms, bookstore and cafeteria) so that they are self-sustaining. A
Request for Proposals (RFP) for operation of both the bookstore
and dinning services will be done to explore potential cost savings.
The results of the SERP were not as positive as hoped and the cost
savings will be less than projected.
BUDGET FUNDING
PRIORITY STATEMENT
Lee stated that the president has requested that the committee
provide a recommendation to cabinet to further reduce operational
expenditures. After thoughtful discussion the committee agreed to
make the following recommendations:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pay Concessions (e.g., COLA, Step Increase)
Suspend Board Members Stipends
Voluntary Leave Concessions
Furloughs –contingent and proportional
Benefit Modifications –contingent and proportional
There was also discussion regarding the unallocated portion of the
budget and the committee agreed that this should be a very
conservative amount or zero.
Discussion ensued regarding the possible cost saving associated
with using the HigherOne card also as a Student ID card. It was
noted by Solomon that his experience in dealing with HigherOne
has not been very positive as they are difficult to reach and it takes
up to a week to replace a lost or damaged card. After further
discussion the committee agreed that it would not be in the best
interest of students to change from the current Student ID card to
the HigherOne card, at this time until the service improves.
There was also discussion regarding the possibility of decreasing
funding to the Child Development Center (CDC) as a cost saving
measure. It was noted that the CDC has downsized in the past year
by closing one of their classrooms and they are really at a point
where they cannot reduce anymore. It was also noted that this is a
teaching lab and it would not be beneficial to students for this
program to be reduced any further.
LISTENING SESSION
RANKING
SPREADSHEET
ADJOURNED
The committee closed the session by breaking items with
identified cost saving on the listening session list into two
categories:
Category A – No Negative effect on Educational Outcomes
Category B – Acceptable level of Negative effect on
Educational Outcomes
The meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
SUBMITTED
lw