Barton Community College’s revenue in January 2017 was down about $6 million from the same time last year, although most of that was due to a date payment from the Barton County Treasure’s Office, Dean of Administration Mark Dean told BCC trustees on Tuesday.
In January of 2016, the college received $5.6 million in local taxes, but this year the payment did not come until February. Dean said the reason for the delay was “software problems.” The college eventually received a $5 million check that will appear on next month’s financial statement.
“Our total revenue is down considerably,” and not just because of the late payment, Dean said. Revenue from tuition and fees is down about $500,000 and a 4 percent cut in state aid accounted for another $400,000 decrease.
The college began the year with $15,296,783. Revenue was $14,122,319 and expenditures were $17,342,024, for a balance of $12,077,078 on Jan. 31. The ending balance on Jan. 31, 2016, was $15,346,056.
Expenditures were also down from this time last year, when they totaled $17,718,800.
The financial report notes the previous month’s revenue from an oil well at Camp Aldrich was $859, compared to $1,177 a year ago. However, trustees noted that the price of oil is recovering, and Dean said the state has set the valuation of oil for 2017 at $43 a barrel, a decided improvement from last year’s $27 per barrel. That will result in more local tax dollars from oil valuations at the end of the year.
“That ought to help next year’s budget considerably,” Dean said.

Bus proposal
Dean also showed trustees a photo of a used 56-passenger MCI coach bus he would like to make an offer on. The college has four buses, including another 56-passanger MCI, a 24-passenger Chevrolet he calls the “plastic bus,” and two 44-passenger International buses, similar to school buses.
“We need to see about replacing those buses,” Dean said of the Internationals. They are aging and unreliable, and they aren’t quite big enough for taking a soccer team or track team on the road. The MCI can carry more passengers and also has more storage space, which means a second vehicle doesn’t have to be deployed for a team trip.
The bus Dean is interested in is located in Minnesota and is comparable to the MCI bus the college already has. Barton mechanic Ghazi Jahay has inspected it. Dean expects to have a proposal for the trustees to consider at the next business meeting.

Other business
In other business, Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman reported he recently approved a nursing agreement with New Chance in Dodge City, and medical lab technician (MLT) agreements with Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute and Newton Medical Center in Newton.
Board chairman Mike Johnson noted that Barton uses facilities in southeast Kansas for clinicals, but could start to see competition as new career technical education programs are being proposed from various locations every month.
The board also set a tentative date for its spring retreat, around May 24-26 with possible trips to Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth. BCC’s graduation ceremony for its Fort Riley campus is set for May 25 at Manhattan. Last year’s graduation ceremony at the Junction City Convention Center was crowded and a bigger venue was sought for 2017.