The 2013-14 budget for Barton Community College will include a 5 percent increase in the amount allocated for faculty salaries, and 2.5 percent more for staff, college officials said Thursday. It’s expected to require the same tax rate as this year’s budget – 32.713 mills.
Plans for the budget were discussed earlier this month at a BCC Board of Trustees study session, and at Thursday’s business meeting the trustees made its publication official. There will be a public budget hearing at 4 p.m. on Aug. 8.
Thanks to an increase in property valuations, the college will see more money for the same mill levy – $8,945,796 compared to $8,814,162 levied in 2012-3.
Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman commented on salary increases.
“We have a five-year plan in place for staff,” he said, adding the goal is to increase employee pay until it is comparable with the mid-range of what other employers pay for similar work. This is needed to retain and attract quality, skilled staff, he said.
“Full-time faculty have not seen a raise in two years,” Heilman continued. “It’s only appropriate,” he said of their wage hike, for the same reason as the staff pay raises.
The trustees also approved the 2013-14 operating budget. Dean of Business Management Mark Dean provided a list of the major additional expenditures next year. They include:
• $26,000 Additional Employee Benefits (Health Insurance, Social Security, KPERS)
• $6,586 Athletic Insurance
• $46,600 Additional Scholarships (athletic, Music, Theater, etc.)
• $1,800 Audit costs
• $640,960 BartOnline growth
• $1,500 Copiers, Printers, Paper
• $16,000 Ft. Leavenworth operating budget
• $50,463 Information Technology operational budget
• $4,000 Fort Riley operational budget
• $150,000 Capital Outlay (Planetarium upgrade, seed money for Baseball, softball, track)
• $36,200 Marketing
• $24,350 Athletic operational budget
• $29,000 Property, liability, work comp insurance
• $34,000 Additional Grandview Plaza facility rent
• $255,000 Staff increases (approximate amount needed to reach 5 yr. goal)
• $6,500 Student employment
• $166,000 Faculty salary schedule increase
• $140,000 Title III match
• $210,000 New positions: IT Assistant, part-time volleyball coach, Network instructor, Additional contract for Ag instructor, Two part-time Customer Service Reps for Leavenworth,  Additional Custodial Hours for Grandview, Online Web and Additional Track Coach.
In other business Thursday, trustees approved extending Heilman’s contract by another year. The three-year “rolling contract” is thus in effect for the next three years, board chairman Mike Johnson said.
“Everything at the institution is moving positively forward,” Johnson said of Dr. Heilman’s work. “We appreciate your effort.”
Johnson agreed to continue as chairman for another year, and all other board appointments and offices were kept the same.
New board member Leonard Bunselmeyer abstained from voting on the contract extension, saying he hadn’t been present for the board’s June 27 executive session where it evaluated the president, because he was not yet a trustee at the time.
The board also approved the bid from 1st Agency to provide general athletic and catastrophic insurance in the amount of $91,044 ($85,436 + $5,608) for the 13-14 academic year.
New personnel approved for the Barton County Campus were: Deedra Gibbons, Library Assistant for Electronic Resources and Technology;  William Sheffield, Instructor (Communications/Debate Coach); Samantha Stueder, WebMaster; and Mark Bogner, Case New Holland Trainer (Instructor). New personnel approved for the Fort Riley area were: Brittany Wolfe, Customer Service Representative; Racheal Cottrill, Academic Advisor; and Jessica Hogsed, Customer Service Representative.
Dr. Mark Sarver, director of eduKan, spoke to trustees and said online education continues to grow. As a founding member of the consortium of community colleges that created eduKan, BCC will receive a dividend payout of $80,168.66 this year; the college was responsible for 2,476 credit hours of instruction delivered.