Dear
Colleagues,
It
is once again that time of year when we start working on the budget process for
the next fiscal year.
Balanced budget
The
good news is we have a balanced budget for the next three years primarily due
to one-time federal funding. The bad news is the budget is balanced because of
one-time funding.
While
enrollment increased by 5.6% last year from the previous year and is trending
toward as much as a 10% increase in full-time equivalent (FTE) this 2023-24
academic year, it is still down over 27% from 2018. This leads to a structural
deficit from lost tuition revenues of over $3 million.
Thankfully,
the college has secured more than $20 million in federal one-time dollars since
2020 to assist in closing that gap over the past few years and help smooth out
the three-year forecast until we can assess enrollment recovery by next fall
term.
Stabilization budget
During
its November meeting, the Board of Education endorsed a proposal to pilot a
two-year budgeting cycle, with the 2023-24 academic year serving as the
"stabilization year." This means the college will not consider any
General Fund expansion or contraction during this budget year (i.e., no new
budget additions/new full-time positions or budget reductions/eliminations of
full-time positions), as those will be considered during the 2024-25 academic
year cycle. Therefore, under the Board of Education's direction, this year the
Budget Advisory Group (BAG) will focus on Continuous Quality Improvements (CQI)
along with other topics, such as the structure of a two-year budget cycle, how
the BAG fits within Shared Governance, resource allocation for computer labs,
and reviews of equipment, furniture, classroom technology allocations, course
fees, etc.
Budget process page
Like
past budget cycles, we will maintain a budget
process webpage where you can find all relevant budget
messages, presentations, timelines, and more. This page will be updated
throughout the year.
I
hope to use this year to improve other areas of resource allocations at the
college and to focus on the 2024 bond campaign. I look forward to engaging with
the college community as we move through this year’s budget process.
Kind
regards,
Tim