County Colleges Warn of $920,000 Shortfall : Education: Trustees present worst-case scenarios to counter the deficit. State Legislature may provide a bailout.

Ventura County’s community colleges face a nearly $1-million shortfall this fiscal year that could cripple education programs unless the state Legislature comes through with extra money, administrators said.

Even as district trustees considered a preliminary 1995-96 spending plan at their meeting late Tuesday, administrators presented worst-case scenarios for dealing with the current deficit.

For example, Moorpark College students could be charged for diplomas, Oxnard College might quit printing its catalogue and Ventura College could slash salaries for student workers, which could push down enrollment.

“We have to have a fallback position,” acting Chancellor James W. Walker told the board.

But college officials are banking on a plan by Gov. Pete Wilson that would provide $47 million in extra funds to the state’s community colleges, which have received far less in property tax revenues than budget analysts first estimated.

“All the talk in Sacramento is that it will happen,” district Comptroller Sue Johnson said Wednesday. “We just don’t know when.”

Arnold Bray, the district’s lobbyist in the state Capitol, said he advised his clients not to rely on the bailout, which would cover the $920,000 deficit if it is approved by lawmakers.

“We’re fairly confident the $47 million will be there,” Bray said. “But there’s no question about it, it could go the other way.”

Meanwhile, trustees already are considering a tentative 1995-96 budget based on a number of funding sources that may not materialize.

Next year’s proposed budget of $60.9 million assumes that hundreds more students will enroll at the three campuses, increasing the amount of money the state provides to the district.

The plan also assumes that cost-of-living adjustments proposed by Wilson will be approved by the Legislature and that semester unit fees will be raised from $13 to $15.

One board member said the proposed spending plan needs more work.

“I have a real problem with this model. I think it’s broken beyond repair,” Trustee John D. Tallman said. “I’ve got red stickers all over it.”

Vice Chancellor Jeff Marsee defended his initial budget as the best plan he could come up with in uncertain times.

“This is a simulation, and simulation means there are some assumptions for revenue,” Marsee said. “We are dealing with actual numbers and I believe the projections will hold up.

“The model isn’t broken,” he said. “It’s designed to go through the process we’re going through.”

Other board members also said the document was a good start to tackling next year’s budget. “The process is started,” Trustee Allan W. Jacobs said. “(Now) we need to do whatever we have to do to clean it up and get on with it.”

Despite the current and next-year budget problems, trustees agreed to spend more than $100,000 on raises for the district’s 360 or so classified employees--most of the non-management workers who do not teach.

Negotiators for the district and the union that represents the classified employees reached an agreement last month that grants the workers a 1% pay raise and other benefits.

After discussing the three-year contract in closed session Tuesday, trustees approved the deal during the public portion of the meeting without comment.

Another expenditure approved Tuesday calls for Ventura and Oxnard colleges to open two financial aid clerk positions that were frozen last year because of budget cuts.

Trustees also emerged from their closed-door discussions Tuesday night with no announcement on proposed contract extensions for the three campus presidents.

It was the third time this year that board members discussed the proposals in closed session without reaching a decision.