Budget Advisory Team
2001-2002 Budget Recommendation
Members of the Budget Advisory Team
Jane Campbell
Ryan Christopher
Cheryl Johnson
Gerry McBroom
Alan Pope
Roxanne Sides
Mark Martinez, Leader
Luis Campos
Lenora Hirschfeld
Richard Lovato
Eugene Padilla
Linda Pope
Dan Valles
Kathie Winograd, Facilitator
Charge to the Budget Advisory Team
A team with faculty, staff and student membership was formed to provide input to
the Executive Team concerning expansion and possible reductions to budgets
for the 2001-2002 fiscal year.
Input for this team was based on priorities established by the Governing Board
during the annual budget development process. Each division provided the team
with prioritized expansion lists and reduction proposals. The team was then
charged with
 Determining if requests were consistent with the planning priorities identified
for the 2001-2002 budget
 Combining the division recommendations into a proposed institute-wide
priority list based on institutional planning priorities
This report reflects the team’s recommendation on how to use budget resources
to move the institution forward in meeting the 2001-2002 planning priorities.
To reach an institute-wide consensus, the team was informed about the planning
priorities and how the entire budget process works. The Budget Office provided
detailed financial information for the team.
The Budget Advisory Team has provided, according to its charge, this 2001-2002
budget recommendation to the Executive Team.
Introduction
This document has three sections that contain important recommendations for
the budget and the budget process. The team believes that each of these
sections is an important part of the overall Budget Advisory Team report to the
Executive Team.
I.
II.
III.
A prioritized budget expansion list.
A recommendation for the proposed budget reduction for the 20012002 budget.
A recommendation for continuously improving the budget and the
budget process in future years.
Prioritized Budget Expansion List
Prioritizing Process:
The Budget Advisory Team has spent a great deal of time becoming
knowledgeable about the budget process. The team members reviewed both
current and historical financial information. They also learned how the planning
process works and discussed the priorities that would drive the budget decisions.
Each division, along with Public Information, provided the Budget Advisory Team
with its 2001-2002 expansion requests. The total request of 54 expansion items
submitted was made up of 7 from Student Services, 12 from Administration, 33
from Instruction and 2 from Public Information.
After reviewing these documents, the team generated questions using two
different brainstorming tools. The questions concerned either a need for further
clarification or a desire to understand how that expansion item supported the
planning priorities. Mark Martinez then worked with various individuals or groups
on campus to address, where possible, the group’s specific questions. The last
part of that phase for the Budget Advisory Team was a presentation by each of
the Vice Presidents and the Director of Public Information.
The next phase was the prioritization phase. The team met in the electronic
meeting room to prioritize the budget expansion items. The team used a
software process to rank the list. Points were electronically assigned using a
weighting system based on individual voting. The team had agreed to consider
the rankings of the lists as presented by the divisions as much as possible. Due
to the nature of the decision-making tools, however, some items on individual
lists ended up on the expansion list in significantly different orders than they were
presented to the group. The team used the following process:




Divided the expansion list into priority I and priority II groups
Reached consensus on Group I and Group II
Prioritized the expansion lists – first Group I and then Group II
Reached consensus on the following final list.
Please note that there was a request for reclassification of IMR staff. The team
thinks this request should be funded using the current reclassification fund
available in the Vice President for Administration's budget. For this reason, that
priority was purposely placed at the bottom of the list so that it would not
compete with other budget expansion items.
Budget Advisory Team
2001-2002 Budget Expansion Priorities
Priority #
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Expansion Item
GROUP I
Two Advisor Positions: Advisement and Counseling
( SS-1)
1.5 Security Officer Position (A-1)
Full-time Instructor – Elementary Education –
Health Occupations (I-5)
Full-time Faculty – Health Information Technology –
BOD (I-1)
Production and Purchase of Student Academic
Transcript Security Forms: Enrollment Services
(SS-3)
Full-time Instructor – Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) Program – Health Occupations (I-12)
Postage (accommodate for the increases in
postage rates) – Duplicating and Postal Center
(A- 2)
Full-time Computer Lab Supervisor JMMC
Administration (I-2)
Convert 4 Part-time Faculty Positions to Full-time –
A&S (I-8)
New Program – Dental Assistant Certificate: Health
Occupations (I-21)
Full-time Faculty – Service learning Coordinator:
Experimental Learning (SS-2)
Full-time Instructor – Landscape: Trades and
Service Occupations (I-16)
Help-Desk Technician: CIT (A-7)
Full-time Technical Support Technician: ACE
Computer Labs (I-9)
Full-time Data Base Programmer: CIT (A-4)
Part-time (0.5) Student Services Tech: South Valley
(I-15)
Distance Learning Operating Expenses (supplies
and contract services): Learning Resources (I-4)
Full-time Instructor: Recreation and Leisure: Trades
and Service Occupations (I-11)
Director of Student Life and Leadership: Dean of
Students (SS-7)
Policies and Procedures Specialist: Policies and
Procedures (A-3)
Marketing Expenses (PIO-1)
Points
383
381
350
347
330
293
284
284
283
248
247
243
238
237
227
210
200
184
183
182
174
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
Upgrade JMMC Support Services Director to TVI
Mechanical Engineer: Physical Plant (A-13)
Full-time Clerical Specialist II: A&S (I-10)
Part-time Instructional Tech. For Computer Labs:
South Valley (I-22)
JMMC Library-Evening and Weekend Reference
Librarian: Learning Resources (I-23)
Full-time Clerical Support: CIT (A-10)
Full-time Administrative Coordinator for AVP: Vice
President (I-7)
Associate Dean: DADE (I-13)
Full-time Administrative Support Specialist: JMMC
BOD (I-14)
Expansion of Networking Sections (evening and
weekend for CISCO certification): Technologies
(I- 33)
0.5 of a Full-time Training and Development
Coordinator: PDC (I-3)
Full-time Math Tutor: Technologies (I-6)
GROUP II
Full-time Offset Press Operator: Duplicating and
Postal Center (A-8)
Supplies for the Associate Degree of Nursing (AND)
Program: Heath Occupations (I-18)
Convert the Part-time Testing Examiner Positions to
Full-time: DADE (I-20)
Convert the Part-time Volunteer Tutor Supervisor
Position to Full Time: ACE (I-19)
Contract Services: Financial Aid (SS-6)
Grounds Supervisor: Custodial Services (A-11)
Full-time Instructional Tech – Electronics:
Technologies (I-29)
Part-time (0.5) Evening and Weekend
Administrative Support Specialist: BOD (I-24)
Clerical Overtime, Travel/Training, Software
Maintenance, Paper Services: Records and
Property Control (A-6)
Supplies for Electronics Courses (Laser and Fiber
Optics and Photonics): Technologies (I-28)
Supplies for Biology Labs and Supplies/Contract
Services for Computer Labs: A&S (I-26)
Full-time Instructor: Substance Abuse Counseling:
Health Occupations (I-27)
Supplies – Turbo Tax Licenses for Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program: BOD (I-25)
151
141
141
135
134
133
122
103
103
101
92
231
219
216
214
210
190
186
179
178
164
164
163
161
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
Full-time Data Collector Position: Student Job
Placement (SS-5)
Travel (28 employees) Enrollment Services (SS-4)
Policies and Procedures Specialist: Policies and
Procedures (A-9)
Convert the Part-time Art Studio Tech from 0.25 to
0.5: A&S (I-30)
PIO Coordinator: (PIO-2)
Training for New Faculty: Trades and Service
Occupations (I-31)
Buyer, Purchasing (A-12)
Travel for New Programs: Trades and Service
Occupations (I-32)
Information Media Resources (IMR) Staff
Reclassifications and Possible Upgrades: Learning
Resources (I-17)
132
122
120
119
105
72
70
51
23
Recommendation for the Proposed Budget Reduction
Each division was asked to identify a 1%, a 1.5% and a 2% reduction in its
budget. The Vice Presidents submitted 1%, 1.5% and 2% reduction packages
without priority ranking.
The Budget Advisory Team agreed to support a budget reduction if used to fund
fixed costs and salary increases. The team split when attempting to agree that
budget reduction dollars should be used to fund expansion items. The team did
not reach consensus that a budget reduction should be carried out to create a
fund that would prepare TVI for the upcoming capital growth resulting from the
2000 bond issue.
Recommendation for Continuously Improving the Budget and
the Budget Process
As the Budget Advisory Team addressed the budget expansion requests and
reduction proposals, it became clear that improving the quality of the process
would require more work than the team could achieve within its tight timeline.
Therefore, the Budget Advisory Team recommends that this team remain
together throughout the year to develop the following items:
 A budget expansion process
 A meaningful budget reallocation process
 Ideas to deal with specific budget items
Following is an unranked list of issues the Budget Advisory Team feels need
further review.
Process Issues
 A cycle of reviews should take place that looks at open positions (faculty and
staff), appropriate upgrades for current employees and realignment of
positions.
 An on-going discussion about budget reductions and reallocations took place
throughout the Budget Advisory Team process. The team supported
reallocating from low priority to high priority areas and understood the
importance of this as the institution prepares for the future. The team also
discussed the need for contingency funds to be available so TVI can respond
quickly to student and community needs. However, the team felt there was a
strong need for a process that was clear about what needed to be
accomplished, free from long-held biases and consistent in how it was carried
out throughout the institution.
 Determine a process to look at projected budget issues more than a year in
advance.
 In a number of cases, this team dealt with inconsistent processes, documents
and submission to budget office, the Budget Advisory Team and the
Executive Team. This team would like to support efforts to decrease that
inconsistency.
 The Budget Advisory Team would support a process that encourages units to
spend their dollars more wisely and rewards them for saving dollars rather
than spending them on unnecessary positions or support items. The desire is
to create an environment where budget savings don’t make the department a
candidate for budget reductions in the next year.
 The Budget Advisory Team supports an assessment process to evaluate
whether budget expansion dollars are used in the same way they were
requested. They support the idea of a budget tracking and review process.
 The Budget Advisory Team would like to develop a methodology that would
evaluate specific processes prior to asking for budget expansion. This
process would determine if the area could do things differently with the same
amount of support or if a budget expansion item is in fact required to
accomplish the necessary tasks (process evaluation).
 The team felt the need for the budget cycle process to include a timeframe for
divisions to discuss their individual budget request and outline institute-wide
expansion needs in order to assure success of areas that overlap divisions.
 With the institution moving more rapidly toward a budget process that is
directed by planning priorities, this team does support a stronger tie between
the planning and budget process.
Topics for Future Discussion
 A review of Administrative Support Staff to help provide guidance to units
when they are seeking additional support.
 Who should pay for advertising positions.
 How to deal with audit findings that result in a need for additional support.
 The benefits of paperless processes.
 Issues related to centralization and decentralization of particular areas.
 A consistent way of requesting new positions that covers necessary support
cost.
 Early retirement.
 Reclassifications funding.
 Funding future technology support and computer replacements from a central
pool of dollars.
 Grant funding –When and how should that convert to general funds and how
to determine the direct and related costs prior to applying for the grant.
 A merit pay system.
 How to deal with mid-year budget decisions.







Multi-campus issues.
Funding of new building needs, e.g. program expansions, lab cost.
Process improvement efforts.
Public awareness to get people to conserve energy and resources.
Areas where salary issues are keeping us from hiring and retaining people.
How to best deal with salary savings issues.
Level of support for travel, required training and professional development.