Final budget for 2011-2012 approved

By Joe Fitzgerald

The Guardsman

The City College Board of Trustees voted to approve a budget of $191 million for theremainder of the college’s 2011-2012 fiscal year. This budget includes cutting a whopping $1.9million in funding for classes, a sacrifice made in the face of an ongoing statewide fiscal crisis.“It’s not a perfect budget... but I think on balance it reflects the budget in this state andelsewhere,” said Trustee Steve Ngo, who is also the chair of the budget committee.When reached for comment, Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance PeterGoldstein said that originally the school had planned to cut $3.8 million from classes, but foundother means of savings to lower that number to $1.9 million.“I think it’s really a case of the state turning away students, rather than the college,”Goldstein said in a phone interview.City College has actually increased it’s enrollment of students this semester, a strategywhich, under state budget rules, should generate more state funding for the college.The state however is still hemorrhaging money, and automatic “triggers” in the budgetfrom Sacramento will almost certainly reduce City College’s state allocation by a further $13.38million.The college’s $191 million budget was crafted with the expectation that those triggers willbe pulled. Meanwhile other avenues to save money at the college are being explored.

Recently the Board of Trustees became aware that even as they continue to make cutsin classes, $6.5 million in a section of the budget called “non-instructional funds” cannot beaccounted for.“I had no idea when the chancellor asked me to do this what I was getting into. It’s amonster,” said Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Development Lindy McKnight. McKnight is incharge of finding out on a department by department basis exactly where that $6.5 million isgoing.“There are many coding problems,” McKnight said at the Sept. 22 board meeting. “ESLNewsletter is in the list [of codes], but according to the chair of that department they haven’t paidanyone to do that in almost a decade.”“Last week the committee sent spreadsheets to every department chair and are gettingthem to list what every activity was,” she said. “We’re not there yet.”Peter Goldstein explained that $3.1 million of the fund has been looked at and verified,but there was still $2.75 million left to analyze. He said that they would have a full line-itemaccounting of the non-instructional fund by Nov. 30.Librarians and student health personnel are paid out of the non-instructional fund, andthus far have escaped some of the drastic cuts other departments have faced. The board oftrustees sought to find out exactly why this was at the Sept. 22 meeting.“We have 85 [faculty] positions being eliminated and these [non-instructional personell]are not being cut? Why is that?” Board of Trustees President John Rizzo asked Goldstein.Goldstein answered “For tenure review it’s in the AFT contract. There have to becommittees that look at that. There are assignments that go hand in hand with some of thoseclasses.”Rizzo leaned forward and asked, “We’re cutting $1.9 million in classes and thesecategories can’t be touched?”“Not for the Fall [semester]” Goldstein said.Quick Facts -$1.9 millionThat’s the exact amount of classes and courses we’re losing this year in dollars,compared to last year. It can be roughly equated to turning away 3,000 students from neededclasses. This won’t affect the current semester, but will hit the coming spring and summersemesters hard.$6.5 millionThat’s the amount the non-instructional fund: paying for things like honors coursework,librarians’ salaries, and health services on campus. The school currently has only a limited ideaof how this money is spent.85 faculty membersAs teachers and faculty retire and/or quit the school, City College plans to not hire newfaculty to replace them. This saves money for the school by eliminating positions entirely. Thislimits student assistance (like financial aid or tutoring), says Clara Starr, director of humanresources for City College.