PWSCC ATTACHMENT II
Current Services Budget
FY14
In the event that incremental funding or internal reallocations from central funds are not available in FY14, information is requested on the current services provided and what will be required to maintain the same level of service while meeting fixed costs, unavoidable commitments, and anticipated changes in demand. Do not include compensation adjustments for FY14 wages/benefits.
- Description of Current Services. (Using the categories contained in UAA 2017 and in the UAA Accreditation Profile, what services/products/outputs does your MBU currently provide?)
Current services that receive GF allocations are provided in at attachment in this packet. Tuition revenues are not included in this document because they are not distributed among all the service areas. Should PWSCC experience a repeat of this year’s enrollment decline, most of the impact will be absorbed in the form of reduction of adjunct personnel costs and scheduled tuition increases. The PWSCC admin team also is considering possible areas for cost reductions in an effort to prepare for any shortfalls.
- Incremental Cost to Maintain Current Services. (Taking into account anticipated changes in demand, what is the additional funding over and above increases in wages and benefits necessary to maintain the current levels of service? For example, have fixed costs increased, such as subscription services or lease costs?)
Additional funding for the purposes of maintaining current services would be $454,500 in the areas of academic support, student services, public service, administrative and facilities costs, exclusive of increases in salaries and benefits. The following expectations are based on estimates of known or anticipated increases to operations and personnel costs assuming flat enrollment.
Personnel step increases including benefits not covered by allocation$120,000
IT equipment update$117,000
Facilities Maintenance department/position reorganization$100,000
Copper Basin lease increase$ 40,000
Theatre Conference reduced benefactors’ contributions$ 35,000
10% increase in utility costs including fuel, fuel oil, and electricity$ 30,000
Estimated mandatory M&R increase$ 12,500
Total$454,500
- NGF Contribution. (Are non-general funds available to contribute towards this incremental cost? From what sources in what estimated amounts?)
Funds available to contribute toward incremental costs are limited to minimal increases in student tuition. All grants, with the exception of ABE, have come to an end and no longer help to offset some of the costs to the programs they were associated with. The City of Valdez funding remains steady at $700,000. Other internal revenue generation includes museum gift sales, donations, and housing auxiliary revenues.
- Soft Funds in Support of Current Operations. (If you use restricted or “soft” funds to support current operations, (i.e., Foundation funding), what is the current status and future availability of these funds?)
All soft funds that had undergone reductions in FY13 have ended. The only remaining fund ABE, which has received flat funding for the past 11 years, increasing the financial impact of the operation on the college General Fund.
- TVEP Funding. (If you are in receipt of TVEP funds, how do you plan to address the requirement to reduce amounts for older continuation items?)
PWSCC has received TVEP funding over the years for many projects ranging from one-time requests of equipment to continuation requests to fund staff and faculty positions.
The recent continuation requests from PWSCC included funding for the Training Department’s Safety Management Coordinator and an Assistant Professor of Millwright.
The Safety Management Coordinator is now fully supported by PWSCC’s general fund. The position has evolved over the years and has been able to help generate revenue for PWSCC by providing courses in HAZWOPER, Confined Space, and CPR/First Aid.
The Assistant Professor of Millwright position is in the fourth year a funding by TVEP and has experienced an annual 5% reduction. In FY14 the 5% reduction will be covered by a change in faculty. The Millwright program has hired a new Assistant Professor of Millwright. This new hire’s starting salary is lower on the pay scale, therefore covering the 5% reduction PWSCC will receive in TVEP funding.
The Millwright program enrollment is approaching the facilities maximum allowable enrollment (eight students). This increased student enrollment will help to offset the reduction of TVEP funding for this position.
The Millwright program reflects items addressed in the Cabinet Strategic Guidance (Attachment V), specifically article III. Strategic Priorities (Operational), letter C, number 5, in reference to Career and Technical Education (CTE). The Millwright program has the ability to take students of any skill level or career interests, train them, and put them to work within a year of starting PWSCC’s Millwright program. The Millwright program at PWSCC is very unique in the that it is the only Millwright program in the State of Alaska and can provide training for individuals whom seek employment in a variety of construction, mining, maritime, or oil industry jobs.
- Reduction to General Fund. (Summarize the prioritization process the MBU will use in the event a 2-5% across-the-board cut to general fund is implemented in FY14.)
Not applicable.
- Cost Savings and Efficiency Measures. (List steps taken in FY13 to decrease on-going costs, reorganize units, implement electronic solutions, sharing of resources, recycling, etc… Do not include temporary salary savings due to delays in replacing positions.)
In FY13, in an effort to decrease costs through efficiencies PWSCC underwent a re-lighting project to remove old florescent light fixtures and replace with high-efficiency T8 lighting. The project was implemented at a cost of approximately $40,000 with an estimated yearly savings of 30-50% of the lighting portion of the college’s $150,000 annual electricity expenditure.
Department positions were looked at to determine if cost savings could be gained through more efficient use of personnel. First, employees’ schedules that lent themselves to times of lighter workload were allowed to voluntarily reduce their work assignment from 12 month to a 10 or 11 month work year, or shorter workdays; five positions were reduced by this means. Next, workload was critically look at to identify areas of loss in productivity. Where identified, positions were reduced based on institutional need; two positions were reduced by this means, one from fulltime to halftime and one from fulltime to 80%.
Cost savings were also gained through a reduction in staff. The fulltime media position, as well as the grants position were eliminated. An effort was made to absorb the workload of these positions within departments. This effort has not been successful as evidenced by a need to contract out website design and limited responsiveness to internal media needs, as well as a significant reduction in grants being plied for and awarded.