Board of Education Meets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BMCC president John Turner had good news for the BMCC Board of Directors, at their Wednesday evening meeting, despite state-wide fiscal concerns. Due to an inequity in property tax collections when Baker County joined the college district, the State Board of Education is refunding a total of $400,000 to BMCC over the next two years. And, during the legislative rebalance of the current fiscal year’s budget, the Oregon Legislature is agreeing to hold harmless the Oregon Opportunity Grant and the 17 community college budgets. That action would result in BMCC not having to return approximately $500,000 from the current year budget.
The president recognized VP of Operations Clark Williams for his efforts to attract federal stimulus money for solar and wind renewable energy projects and LEED retrofits on the Pendleton campus and he reported that funds for the proposed Higher Education Center in Hermiston were earmarked in both the federal HUD and Health and Human Services stimulus budgets.
Faculty retrenchment language was discussed, with an April 1 action deadline looming to meet the 120-day notification clause. A meeting was set with the faculty union to go over the budget again and discuss alternatives.
VP of Operations Clark Williams presented a four-year budget scenario to the Board and demonstrated adjusted that could be made based on various assumptions, such as property taxes, increases in tuition, and payroll mix.
The Board approved a budget resolution to receive $2,055,000 in state stimulus dollars for deferred maintenance projects that address safety, security and aging infrastructure. The goal is to have the projects started by the end of April. The Board then passed a local declaration of emergency and suspended the normal procurement procedures to ensure that contractors can be hired as soon as possible.
#### ####
