COOS BAY — Revenue uncertainty and cuts in program funding produced a lively, and at times contentious, budget committee meeting Monday at Southwestern Oregon Community College.   

In her presentation, President Judith Hansen said the budget will retain all existing academic programs, though expenditures for equipment and supplies “have been stripped to uncomfortable levels.”

It provides for cost-of-living salary increases for full-time employees, but delays the implementation of $2 million in renovations.

During deliberations, the committee expressed confusion at some of the changes from previous budgets and closely scrutinized line items where numbers did not seem to add up.

Several asked why the college hadn’t simply used a roll-over budget from the year before.

Taking a toll

After spending more than three hours defending her proposals, repeated questioning of her budget seemed to wear on Hansen. By the end of the meeting, she was answering questions curtly and appeared drained.

Though the meeting was not about Hansen, it featured the same kind of division that has split the board of education in recent meetings.

The board members who have called for an investigation of Hansen asked most of the questions, returning to the same issues over and over again. Those who have consistently voted against an investigation were silent or expressed support for changes to the budget.

Even the selection of a board chairman was divided, as six voted for Mike Gaudette and five wanted Tim Salisbury to oversee the meeting.

Hansen said the budget she proposed was necessary because of increasing costs and questions about where revenue would come from. Due to a new state funding formula, the college will receive about $191,000 less than last year. By freezing tuition, a board decision, Hansen said she expects to see about a 5-percent increase in enrollment next year, and that should bring in more money. But some additional sources of revenue, such as grants and contracts, have yet to be finalized.

As a result, Hansen recommended cutting into the instructional budget, leaving some departments, such as the arts program, with substantially less funding. Hansen said it was a choice between reducing funding for operations or not funding cost-of-living salary increases.

“We have less revenue based on real figures,” Hansen explained. “The staff decision was to choose an increase (in salary) rather than operations. (The budget) does limit how much we have in operations.”

In his budget analysis, Business Office Manager Ron Olson said the cuts are more a reflection of what has been spent in previous years rather than actual losses in funding. For example, the materials and services budget was slated to be $807,601, nearly $200,000 less than last year. The college routinely comes in under budget in that fund, so the line item in reality is $32,000 less than what was actually spent by the college.

This was little consolation to art instructor James Fritz. He contended his department’s budget would be cut from $214,000 to $89,000, including the loss of a full-time instructor and a significant reduction in supplies.

“Pharaoh has asked us to make bricks without straw,” he said. “And that’s going to be difficult.”

Hansen said the full-time position will be left vacant once Melanie Schwartz retires at the end of this year. Rather than fill the position with a new full-time instructor, the plan is to have classes taught by part-time teachers this coming school year. The hope is to have a full-time instructor hired next year, Hansen said.

“It would be a travesty not to have both a 2-D and a 3-D instructor in our arts department,” she said.

More concerns, issues  

Other staff members raised concerns during the public comment period, too.

Instructional Director Linda Kridelbaugh said she thought the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute revenue estimate was too high and its expenditures too low.

“With the cost of gas and food and utilities going up, I hope we hit zero next year,” she said.

And athletic director John Speasl said he was concerned that if cuts in marketing are implemented, he won’t be able to recruit as many student-athletes from outside the area.

The budget committee also found fault with the presentation of the budget. Last year, its members asked to have a summary in addition to the budget detail. At the meeting, several members pointed out inconsistencies between the two. This led Harry Abel to question whether he could approve the budget in good conscience.

“I don’t feel like I’m dealing with numbers that I can be assured they are right,” he said.

Hansen apologized for the errors. She said she misunderstood the committee’s request and had rushed to produce the summary to the right specifications. But she stood by the budget’s bottom line.

“The general fund looks like it does because it is more bare-bones,” she said. “We wanted to make sure it’s legal to approve and a conservative expenditure of the public funds.”

Enrollment optimism?

Some members thought Hansen was optimistic in her predictions for student enrollment increases.

Budget committee chairman Mike Gaudette said he wasn’t sure the OCCI would see as large a jump in enrollment as was anticipated in the budget. Marcia Jensen said the expenses in that department should have been higher if an increase was anticipated. And Abel commented that the student housing budget didn’t reflect an increase in enrollment.

Hansen noted that the college has received far more applications at this point than in years past. She also noted that a lot of figures are estimates because the real numbers will not be known until after the budget is completed.

Hansen offered to produce a revised budget at a June 3 meeting. Without going into specifics, Hansen said the new budget would be more pleasing to both the public and those on the budget committee. She will accept written comments from the public regarding ways she can change the budget. There also will be time at the regular board meeting next Monday for people to air their opinions.