Pierce College has no deficit and will meet its 2013-2014 budget, according to the Budget Committee.
The body of the committee is made up of twelve members, co-chaired by Vice President of Administrative Services, Rolf Schleicher and physics/astronomy professor, Don Sparks.
The committee’s focus has helped control funds by limiting frivolous expenditures.
“We must make sure the budgeted funds are monitored from top to bottom and that there is an even line of communication to make sure there are no discrepancies or areas of over-spending,” Schleicher said.
The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) decides budget allocations for the nine colleges in the district from funds granted by the state of California.
“The allocation of funds to budget for 2014-15 is $57,676,126, “ Associate Vice President Administrative Affairs, Bruce Rosky said.
Schools who operate outside of the realms of their budget are supplemented by money allocated from schools without a deficit, including the Pierce College Contingency Fund.
An issue schools are facing is a scarcity of funds and these campuses may now rely on Pierce College for monetary support.
“The desire is greater than the money allocated, but the budget must balance,” professor Joe Perret said.
One budget discrepancy that Pierce College needs to further explore is the Library/Learning Crossroads.
“The Library is over budget by 3 times,” Perret said. “Why and where did the approval come from?”
The library needs additional full and part time staff during Library hours.
A major problem in distributing funds properly is the allocation model the LACCD uses. The model was recently changed to give more money to smaller community colleges and less to bigger community colleges. This money is paid from the Contingency fund.
Additional issues are associated with financial aid. The administrator grants money to those students with financial needs. If that student does not show up for class, the money must be returned. Students continue to abuse the system by misrepresenting their enrollment status.
Pierce does make a small amount of income on campus from parking fees, farm rental, leased land for the Metro, and filming on campus.
The final adjustment for the budget must be presented back to the LACCD by April, so the 2014–2015 approved budget can go into effect July 1, 2014 and run through June 30, 2015.
