The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees approved the 2005-2006 budget Tuesday night, which was described as ?lean? and ?tight.”
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The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees approved the 2005-2006 budget Tuesday night, which was described as ?lean? and ?tight.”
According to information provided by Chief Fiscal Officer Sharon Barnett, the General Funds budget projects expenses and revenue at $6,299,269 each. Mrs. Barnett said an attempt was made to more accurately budget some expenses that had caused cost overruns in the past, particularly in the area of overload teaching salaries. The result, she said, is a very tight budget with only a $115,454 contingency fund, a figure that is down from $407,773 this year.
In projecting revenue, Mrs. Barnett said that no new revenue was projected. The income from tuition and revenue was based on this year?s enrollment figures using the recently-approved tuition increase for the 2005-2006 school year. State aid is budgeted at the same amount as this year.
Included in the General Funds budget is an overall salary increase of 4.1 percent for faculty, with corresponding increases in retirement, FICA and Medicare; an overall salary increase of 3.8 percent for Administrative, Management and Professional salaries with corresponding increases in retirement, FICA and Medicare; a re-work of the Classified Salary Schedule with positions categorized into ranges based on education, experience and responsibility and an overall salary increase of 5.35 percent; a projected health insurance increase of $750 annually, with that amount to be paid to employees as a bonus if the increase does not occur; and $15,000 for on-line development. In addition, Mrs. Barnett?s recommendation included the ?zeroing out? of Federal Funded Vocational Aid revenue in Fund 1, but those monies will be budgeted in the Restricted Funds area (Fund 2) as will the corresponding expenses. The budget also has part-time/adjunct salaries budgeted in the Dean of Instruction area using actual overload expenditures thus far this year and projected overload salary expenses for June ($114,927 plus retirement, FICA and Medicare).
NCMC President Dr. Neil Nuttall noted that by approving the budget, the board was approving the new classified staff salary schedule. He reiterated what was in Mrs. Barnett?s recommendation memo, that the budget attempts to accurately budget areas where that was not done in the past and said it is ?a lean budget, a tight budget?. He also noted that while the contingency fund is down, the college still has a ?healthy fund balance?. He also said that salary increases were a little higher than what he may have initially wanted and said that ?this is about as much as we can do.”
One area he mentioned in particular was the overload teaching salary area, which he said has been high in the past. The issue of staff overload had been discussed at length earlier in the meeting when a new faculty manual policy was approved. The new policy states that ?full-time faculty members may teach up to 12 overload hours per semester of which no more than six hours may be face-to-face instruction. For the purposes of calculating overload, two pro-rated courses with a combined minimum total of 10 students, shall be the equivalent of one course. Courses by arrangement, internships, practicums, seminars and non-credit courses shall not be considered when computing the 12 hours.?
Board member Don Dalrymple asked what the faculty reaction to the proposed policy had been, since in the past, more overload hours were allowed. It was noted that the issue had been addressed with the Faculty Negotiations Committee. Dr. Nuttall characterized the process as ?give and take, back and forth? and indicated that not all faculty members were pleased with the outcome. Dalrymple said his question was ?has the faculty senate as a whole signed off on it?? to which Dr. Nuttall responded that they had not, to his knowledge.
Dalrymple, a former faculty member, went on to say that traditionally, the faculty senate as a whole body would look at an issue such as this and that he has seen many times areas of disagreement are worked out through that process. He said that by not taking it before the faculty senate, the college runs the risk of undermining the morale of the faculty. He said he had no problem with the policy; the problem he saw was that the faculty senate as a body had not had the opportunity to discuss it and approve it.
Dr. Nuttall went on to say again that although the faculty senate had not ratified the new policy, there is no provision in the handbook that he could find that states that it is necessary for the senate to do so. He said that it might be good to have a more formalized process, where items are ?put on the table? in March, have an agreement reached by June and if an agreement is not reached by June, it would be considered that negotiations were taking place in
bad faith. Dalrymple again said he wanted to be sure that the faculty had a chance to understand the policy, to which Dr. Nuttall replied that the two negotiation committee members he worked with, Jim Norris and Cory Cooksey, ?seemed satisfied.” He also expressed his opinion that a representative of the faculty senate should be able to speak with authority in negotiations or it is a waste of time to conduct them. He also asked Dalrymple, ?if in the end there wasn?t an agreement, then what?? Dalrymple agreed that the board has the power to make the decision regardless and to approve or disapprove the budget given to them. His issue, he said again, was not whether or not he was in favor of the new policy, but whether or not the faculty had been given a chance to have input and approve it. The policy was approved 5-0.
Other policies approved included changes in the board policy manual regarding tuition waivers in relation to on-line courses and changes in the classified staff policy manual that removed a special NCMC associate degree salary increase and career ladder. The policy change also clarified a provision involving compensatory time. Both policies were approved unanimously.