Norwalk : College Dips Into Reserve to Balance $50-Million Budget

Cerritos College has adopted a $50.5-million budget for fiscal 1991-92 that dips into the college’s reserve fund for the second time in as many years. Only slightly larger than last year’s budget, the new plan ends the year with a positive balance of about $3.3 million, down $1.1 million from the year’s opening balance.

Mark Wallace, a college spokesman, attributed the shrinking reserve to increasing enrollment coupled with decreasing state funding. “We usually try to keep a constant reserve,” he said, “but in order to keep going this year we have to spend some of it.”

While some cuts have been made in college spending, Wallace described them as largely surgical. “(We still have) a comfortable reserve as long as it doesn’t erode any further,” he said.