College approves $12 million budget
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By Nate Bloomquist
Apache Editor
The IVCC college board approved a $12 million budget for Fiscal year 2001 at the Sept. 20 meeting.
The budget has increased eight percent from last year. A major increase from last year came in the area of Institutional support (28 percent of the budget), which is up by 17 percent. There was also a five percent increase in the funding for instructional areas (47 percent).
Thirty-seven percent of the budget comes from local government sources, 29 percent of it comes from tuition, the state provides 28 percent, and six percent comes from other sources.
Other areas which will receive funding for the budget include Academic Support, which will take five percent of the budget, student services will receive seven percent, and Operation and maintenance will receive approximately nine percent of the budget. Public Services and Interfund transfer make up 2.5 percent of the budget.
“We are pleased to present another balanced budget to our taxpayers,” said college president Jean Goodnow. “We continually strive to get the most we can out of the money we receive from all of our funding resources.
“We work to ensure that our students are prepared for the job market of four-year institutions while remaining responsible to our taxpayers. This budget helps us achieve both goals.”
Also part of the budget is a concept known as ‘equalization.’ This refers to state funds that are eligible for the college to use because of the number of credit hours taken at the college (76,000) compared to its equalized assessed valuation ($2.233 billion). The state funding is available for use because the district ratio is less than the state average.
Another part of the budget includes a two-stage tuition increase. College tuition will increase from $48 to $49 for the spring 2001 semester and then another $1 in the summer session of 2001.
A new contract with the American Federation of Teachers that was recently agreed on, which allows for roughly a four percent increase in teachers’ salaries over the next year brought up the funding allotted for wages.
There will also be a .25 percent increase in each following year for the next four years, funding for salaries increased $141,000.