A week after voters rejected a ballot measure to increase Lane Community College funding, school staff and officials are working to tighten its budget while anticipating how much money the government will provide.
It’s a process that may significantly affect LCC students hoping to transfer to the University.
Officials are working on a list of cost-cutting proposals for the 2007-08 fiscal year so that LCC can cover projected budget deficits of roughly $2 million to $6 million, which will depend on how much the state legislature and Gov. Ted Kulongoski appropriate for community colleges, said Jay Bozievich, chairman of the LCC board.
Depending on how much LCC receives from the legislature, which contributes a majority of funding to community colleges across the state, the college may need to cut back on services, teaching and staff positions, departments and classes.
If LCC is forced to cut staff, students may have to decide how long it will take for them to transfer to the University or to other universities from Lane, Bozievich said.
“Without knowing what’s going to happen, there is the possibility that it may take longer to get all the classes that you need to complete an associate’s degree or to transfer over to the UO,” he said. “And because of that, some students may choose to transfer sooner because the class availability might not be there at Lane, which of course is a significant tuition cost difference to the student.”
The state funds community colleges based on inflationary costs and how much a college offers for instruction, but community colleges say that funding has not kept up with rising costs. The result at LCC has been an increase in tuition fees of about 83 percent since 2001 and cuts to services, Bozievich said.
To help make up some of the loss in revenue, LCC placed a property tax levy, known as Measure 20-120, on the November ballot. It would have raised about $1.3 million per year over the next five years.
However, the measure failed when only 43 percent of Lane County residents voted to support it.
Although Measure 20-120 would not have made up for LCC’s budget deficit, it would have helped close the college’s budget gap over five years, while giving it more flexibility, Bozievich said.
Tuition and property taxes contributed the majority of LCC’s funds before the 1990 passage of Measure 5, which established constitutional limits on property taxes and required Oregon’s general fund to make up the difference in program funding levels, said LCC President Mary Spilde at a City Club of Eugene debate last month.
For the 2006-07 budget, 37 percent of LCC’s budget came from tuition, while 54 percent came from the government and property taxes, according to LCC budget documents. LCC cut about $6 million from the budget in 2005, which included about 37 non-instructional positions, Spilde said.
LCC is planning different budgets for anywhere between a $2 million and $6 million shortfall, said Greg Morgan, associate vice president for finance at LCC.
Morgan said it’s unknown how much health care and Oregon Public Employees Retirement System costs will increase. Regardless, LCC will have to make adjustments to its structure and services, he said.
“You always hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Morgan said.
While LCC works on achieving long-term stability through structural changes, Bozievich said, the college was also going to be “making our presence felt in Salem.”
The state legislature has underfunded community colleges over the last few years, Bozievich said. LCC last helped lobby for an increase in the budget for tuition when Kulongoski proposed $389 million and the community colleges successfully argued for an increase to $424 million.
Bozievich said he had heard the current governor’s budget proposal, scheduled for publication in December, is $470 million, whereas the Oregon Community College Association was looking for $529 million.
“What we’d really like to see this time is to see the governor start out with a number that’s reasonable for us and see where we can go with the legislature,” Bozievich said. “One of the strategies, as far as balancing our budget goes, is to make sure the legislature and the governor understand that.”
Bozievich said enrollment at LCC has increased over the past two years, while the rest of the community colleges in Oregon have seen decreases. He said the increased enrollment is a long-term strategy for LCC to increase its funds, but the benefits are not immediate because state funding is distributed using a formula based on a three-year rolling average.
“Tuition doesn’t cover all the costs of the class,” Bozievich said. “If we increase enrollment this year, we only see one-third of the benefit. Until you get three years out you really don’t see the full benefit of that in the state’s portion of the reimbursement.”
Bozievich encouraged people to contact Kulongoski’s office to show support for community colleges and to urge state legislators to put out the state budget earlier so that LCC can plan its budget and services in accordance.
LCC is not looking at another operations levy, although it is looking at a future construction bond, Bozievich said.
Contact the city and state politics reporter at [email protected]