COUNTYWIDE : College District to Slash $3.6 Million

The Ventura County Community College District must find a way to slash nearly $3.6 million from its proposed 1992-93 budget because of an unexpected state funding cut, officials said Tuesday.

Jeff Marsee, the district’s vice chancellor for administrative services, said officials were anticipating having more than $66 million to help run the district’s three community colleges. But, he said, they have discovered that the district will receive only about $62.3 million, about 6% less than expected.

“We’re going into strategy sessions to look at what cuts we can do,” Marsee said, adding that top college and district officials met in a special session Tuesday to discuss the problem.

“There is no question this is going to be a difficult assignment,” he said. “The organization is down to bare bones.”

Marsee said officials will send their list of proposed cuts to the Board of Trustees for final review on June 16. But he said administrators will do all they can to avoid layoffs. He said he believes that some of the cuts can be achieved by freezing pay increases for managers and holding off on filling empty positions.