Trustees retreat to allow further budget plans for next fiscal year
By Mike Abell
The monthly Board of Trustee meetings allow for the board and administration to recap what was talked about during their subcommittee meetings earlier in the month.
However, the board will annually have a budget workshop or retreat early in the spring semester to lay the foundation for their next budget even though it won’t take effect for many months. This year, the retreat will take place on Saturday, Feb. 7.
Additionally, the board will be joined by President Joe Sopcich and Barbara Larson,executive vice president and administrative services. These workshops and retreats allow the board and administration time to focus on certain points of the budget. Molly Baumgardner, former trustee, described how these retreats differ from regular month-to-month board meetings.
“The purpose of these retreats is really to gather more in-depth information about issues that will be coming up during the next budget year,” said Baumgardner. “The monthly Board of Trustee meetings are totally run following Roberts’ rule of order. A Board of Trustees meeting is designed to vote on and to take action based on proposals given by the administration.”
This year, the board will vote on the budget with Sopcich’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in mind along with the Strategic Planning Process.In addition, Baumgardner mentioned how the KPI will affect these early foundations for the budget.
“Because we are now bound with these KPI, the board needs to be informed of ‘Here is the Performance Indicator, now how will that translate into some of the things that we’re thinking about spending money on?’ she said. “I mean, it’s interesting. We have our personal budgets, which is usually dictated by what our income is, where the college as an institution. Its budget is dictated by what this group of elected officials are going to vote on.”
Vice Chair Trustee Musil also talked about those KPI and the role they will play in establishing a new budget.
“We’re going to talk about the KPI and Strategic Plan maybe as a whole other topic. One of the things we want to do is make the budget fit that plan and move the needle, if you will, on those KPI,” Musil said. “We’re trying to figure out now if we focus on those measures and budget resources to them then we think we’ll be better off as a school.”
Overall, Musil said that this retreat was meant for the board and administration to lay the foundation for the next fiscal year. Like the monthly board meetings, the retreat will be open to the public.
“We’re trying to really get everyone aimed at the same goal and this to learn and get the best education you can for the most affordable price and take it on to what you want to do.”