Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
Gov. Tim Kaine on Tuesday ordered a 10 percent cut, or $151,571, from funds for the New College Institute for the current fiscal year.
“The thing to remember, though,” said Executive Director Barry Dorsey, “is there’s already a reduction of $111,000 that we took last year that was carried over to this year, as well.”
That means the “real loss” in state funds for fiscal 2009-10 is $262,571, Dorsey said.
The cuts Kaine imposed Tuesday for NCI do not include any layoffs. They focus on areas such as recruitment, promotional materials and delaying equipment replacement, according to Kaine’s budget document. An estimated savings of $39,621 will come from a delay in filling two vacant positions, the document shows.
Dorsey said Kaine’s cuts mirror what NCI proposed when it was asked to prepare a 10 percent budget reduction.
“We have been planning for this reduction all along,” he said.
Considering everything, “I think the budget cuts could have been worse,” Dorsey said. “Even with all the cuts we have sustained ... we still have $98,429 more in fiscal 2009-10 than we had in 2008-09 in state money.”
That is because the General Assembly appropriated almost $300,000 more for fiscal 2009-10 than it did for 2008-09, Dorsey said. “So that’s the reason we have that much remaining even after these very large reductions,” he said.
For 2008-09, NCI received $1,373,809 in state funding, after cuts. This year’s state funding, after cuts, is $1,472,238 — still $98,429 more.
However, for NCI, the cuts are “a double whammy,” Dorsey said, because all state funding for the institute is matched by The Harvest Foundation. That means NCI will lose a matching $252,571 from the foundation, he said.
When all the reductions are considered, in both state and Harvest funding for the biennium, NCI will lose almost $750,000 “of what would have been available in the current biennium. That’s a significant amount,” Dorsey said. “But we’ve been very prudent in using our money in the first place and have planned as we went along for budget reductions.”
Because NCI anticipated the cuts, no jobs will be eliminated, and none of the institute’s 17 degree programs and four certificate programs will be cut, Dorsey emphasized.
One of the two positions that won’t be filled is an assistant director for academic programs. Although the General Assembly authorized that post for NCI in its 2008-09 budget, the job never has been filled, Dorsey said.
“I certainly hope to have it filled by 2010-11 because that’s a person we need very much,” he said.
The other position is an information technology job that likely will be filled on a part-time basis rather than full time, Dorsey said.
He added that without Harvest, NCI would not be as successful as it is today. The institute, which was founded in 2006, gives students a chance to complete the second two years of bachelor’s degrees and to complete master’s degrees through colleges and universities throughout the state. Students take the courses at NCI in Martinsville.
Dorsey expressed hope that the economy is beginning to improve. Although he expects the 2010-12 biennium to be “very sparse,” Dorsey said he is hopeful that things will be better after that.
Virginia’s budget straits are not as dire as those in some other states, he pointed out.
“Virginia has done a good job in responding to the budget situation,” Dorsey said. “I think it’s up to each agency and institution to have to absorb its part, and we have.” |
| |
|
|
.jpg)
.jpg)