SANTA ANA : College Board Will Grapple With Deficit

The Rancho Santiago College District board will meet tonight to consider various service cuts and fee increases designed to make up a $1.6-million deficit in the 1992-93 budget.

Proposals to balance the $66.7-million spending plan include reductions in clerical and counseling staff, closing campuses at noon on Friday and increasing the student health fee.

Proposed reductions also include saving $200,000 by canceling most weekend courses and activities, $75,000 by postponing the hiring of a Santa Ana campus chancellor and secretary, and $114,000 by maintaining a hiring freeze on unfilled faculty positions.

Another proposal would raise the current student health fee $2.50 to $10 per semester, saving the district $43,000. The district may also postpone the $250,000 purchase of financial and personnel software.

Faced with plummeting revenue from the state, district officials have already pared almost $6 million from their budget this summer. Despite earlier assurances from state officials, the district will not receive $1.7 million promised by the state, $1.2 million of which would have gone to expanding the Orange campus.

The board will consider the proposed cuts at its regular 6 p.m. meeting in the boardroom on the Santa Ana campus, at 17th and Bristol streets.