College ready to cut mil levy, raise wages

Barton Community College plans to spend 5 percent more on salaries and cut the local tax rate by half a mil, with a proposed budget approved Thursday.

The board of trustees approved a budget for publication and will hold a public budget hearing at 4 p.m. on Aug. 4, in room F-30 of the Fine Arts Building. Based on an assessed valuation of $260,961,445, the estimated tax rate will be 32.307 mils, which is 0.5 mils less than the 2010-11 budget.

Dean Mark Dean provided information on the budget for Fiscal Year 11, which ended on June 30, and the operational budget for Fiscal Year 12. In this coming year, the college will lose the $410,000 in federal stimulus money that helped keep it in the black last year. It also expects another $105,000 reduction in state aid. On the other hand, it will receive more local tax money, because county valuation increased by $18,618,120, due to an increase in oil and utilities. The oil valuation increased from $69.75 to $78.00.

"Utilities took a major jump this year, due to a pipeline going through the county," Dean said.

The college also needs to plan for higher costs and other cuts from the state, but will receive more money from students, in the form of higher tuition and continued enrollment growth.

The proposed budget will have to dip into cash reserves to include salary increases. However, the college thought it would need to use some reserves last year, but didn’t because income was greater than anticipated. The new budget is estimating another 3 percent growth in enrollment, but college officials said that is a conservative estimate and they hope it will be higher.

The rationale for a wage increase for faculty and staff was revisited. Barton gave no salary increases for the last two years, although it did give employees a one-time bonus last year. Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman said it is "difficult to keep people, difficult to attract people," if wages aren’t kept competitive.

"Wages were assessed five years ago," Heilman said. "There were people being overpaid and people being underpaid by quite a bit." Since then, the college has tried to take a scientific approach in setting salaries, he said.

That is done through a service called Compease, which compares wages for each staff position to comparable jobs in the area. Compease provides a minimum, midpoint and maximum salary level for each job, using comparisons from Great Bend and from Manhattan for the college’s Fort Riley staff.

"A major concern is that we have 78 employees whose wages levels are currently below the minimum," Dean said. "Barton’s applicant pool for open positions has declined, and we are experiencing an increased number of individuals leaving due to wages."

In fact, a number of people recently retired, took other jobs or left for other reasons, Heilman said. Later in the meeting, the board approved several new hires, and the president said he hopes to have a similar number of new people for the board to approve next month.

Several trustees voiced their support for the new budget.

Trustee Robert Feldt said that staff have contributed to the college’s success. "I for one believe that the college has managed very well, very conservatively."

Trustee Don Learned said he’s lived here since 1972 and has always been surprised that college employees make less than employees at Great Bend USD 428, where he was once a school principal. The college recently "lost a person to USD 428," he said. "We need to get our rates up."

Trustee Mike Johnson, who was elected chairman of the board of trustees at Thursday’s meeting, commented, "Our employees have done more with less. I’m sure we’re looking an another cut from the state, in all likelihood. The half-mil reduction will show the taxpayers there we’re frugal with the money."

Trustee John Moshier said he was "hesitant to come on board" with the 5 percent increase for salaries, but that he would also support the increase. "I know the hurt that a business goes through when it goes three years without giving raises."

The college also has two new trustees, who were sworn in earlier this month at the board retreat and were attending their first meeting at which action was taken. Those trustees, Brett Middleton and Mike Minton, also voted for the budget.

In addition to choosing Johnson as board chairman for the next year, trustees named Moshier as vice chairman and Middleton as secretary. Dean will continue to serve as treasurer and Johnson will continue to represent Barton on the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees.

In other action, the board accept the low bid from First Agency for $67,307 to provide general athletic and catastrophic insurance for the next academic year.

The board also approved the following new hires:

Jennifer Seeman – Academic Advisor (Fort Riley Area)

Amy Reddick – Academic Advisor (Fort Riley)

Sicilee Lansbury – Customer Service Representative (Fort Riley)

Melissa Carolus – Customer Service Representative (Fort Riley)

Kathy Kottas – Executive Director of Nursing & Healthcare Education (Barton campus)

Brenda Schartz – IS Project Coordinator & Help Desk Facilitator (Barton campus)

Carter Kruger – Assistant Coach (Woman’s Basketball) (Barton campus)

Elizabeth Keeley – Admissions Representative (Barton campus)

Brandon Steinert – Director of Public Relations (Barton campus)

Joseph Vinduska – Public Relations Specialist (Barton campus)

Douglas Lippstreu – Director of Center for Adult Basic Education (Barton campus)