The Olympian

Issue date: 9/28/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Chris Carter Gov. Chris Gregoire

Nationwide economic struggles have trickled their way down to Olympia and now to Olympic College.
The OC administration, led by President Dr. David Mitchell, is faced with a request from Gov. Chris Gregoire to significantly cut areas of their annual budget.
The directive, which was announced in August, has since put pressure on state agencies and the dollar amount continues to grow with the school year only in its second week.
As a result of Gregoire's request, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges established targets set at 0.9 percent of each college's respective annual state appropriation.
For OC, that goal was to the tune of $203,000. One month later, the governor's office is requesting an additional $200 million be saved for the current fiscal year. Although OC's share of the burden has not been disclosed, the amount is expected to triple to nearly $700,000, forcing the college to find new ways to save money.
When the supplemental budget is reviewed and approved during the next legislative session, the SBCTC will pass on the reduced appropriations to the colleges.
According to Vice President of Administration Barbara Martin, the reduced budget will have virtually no impact on ongoing construction on the Bremerton campus and will not raise student tuition or fees.
In her Aug. 4 memo, Gregoire asked state agencies to save money by imposing a freeze on hiring for new jobs, including student positions. At press time, there are 15 positions frozen at OC.
Although non-operating budget positions at the bookstore and childcare are unaffected, most campus jobs are funded out of the operating budget. The departments could see a decrease in personnel this year. After Bridgid Brunson, former chief financial officer, left the college before fall quarter, the CFO spot is also on hold.
According to Martin, this could mean longer lines and unusual hours for student services and the potential for delays in response to student needs. She said apart from this, students shouldn't feel impacted.
The option of cutting existing jobs is also on the table, however Martin said it would be a last resort.
"We would look long and hard before it came to that," she said.
Gregoire's office also listed out-of-state travel, the purchase of new equipment and the signing of non-emergency personal services contracts as other avenues of reduced expenditures, all of which OC is currently considering.

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