College District Preparing for Cuts

Faced with a projected budget shortfall of $1.8 million this spring, officials at the Ventura County Community College District say they may have to cut part-time non-teaching staff, slash nonessential funds such as supply budgets and even dig into district reserves.

District administrators will prepare a number of budget-cutting options this month and trustees will choose among them at the district’s April board meeting, said Jeff Marsee, the district’s vice chancellor for administrative services.

The district had set aside $500,000 last year in anticipation that spring state funding allotments would be cut when property tax revenues came in under state projections. But administrators learned this week that that amount would not be enough to cover the more likely shortfall of $1.4 million projected by state finance officials.

The district faces an additional loss of $400,000 in enrollment funds that state officials pledged but now cannot provide, bringing the total shortfall to $1.8 million, college officials said.

Last week, district administrators projected a $972,000 shortfall in property tax revenues, but they revised that number Monday when they received new information from the state.

The district’s $500,000 reserve will cover part of the shortfall, as will a one-time $600,000 health-insurance premium refund, Marsee said. The remaining money, approximately $700,000, will have to come from the $63-million 1993-94 budget or from reserves, he said. Currently, the district holds about $2.5 million in its reserves, but about $1.5 million of that is obligated to various funds which the district cannot draw on, Marsee said.

The district only recently built up its reserves to the state chancellor’s minimum level, allowing the district to get off the state chancellor’s watch list for the first time in years. If the district cuts into its reserves, it could again be placed on the watch list.