May 19, 2015
TC3 addressing budget questions
DRYDEN — Cortland County legislators have requested two weeks to examine the county’s budget before committing to a 4 percent increase of the county’s share of funding to Tompkins Cortland Community College.
Both Tompkins County and Cortland County legislators attended a presentation on the budget Friday at the college.
TC3 President Carl Haynes explained the college’s spending practices and presented the balanced $39,286,909 budget to seven representatives from each Legislature.
Cortland County Legislator Kevin Whitney, (R-Cortlandville) asked Haynes to deliver the presentation again to the county’s Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The college is asking for a 4 percent funding contribution increase from the sponsoring counties. Cortland and Tompkins County must decide whether or not to meet the request and both counties must agree to the same percentage increase.
Tompkins County has indicated it supports the increase but Cortland County has questioned the county’s ability to support the increase.
Whitney urged all legislators to attend the Budget and Finance Committee meeting to hear the presentation. He said Haynes answered all questions, among them questions about how the county contributions are used and how TC3’s restaurant, farm and the TC3 Foundation are paid for. Whitney said the presentation clearly showed the fiscal challenges TC3 faced.
“He demonstrated very well that the college is being very fiscally responsible and prudent in its operations,” Whitney said.
Paying for college
The presentation explained there are four separate founding agencies that pay for four different categories of college expenses.
TC3’s operating budget is funded by student tuition and fees, the sponsoring counties, state aid and charges applied to other counties that have residents attending the college. The operating budget covers costs of teaching, administration, student services and the operation and maintenance of the campus.
Haynes noted in his presentation that Cortland County provides 4.5 percent of the college’s total operating revenue, while Cortland residents make up 18 percent of TC3’s total enrollment.
Tompkins County pays for 7.5 percent of TC3’s operating budget and its students comprise 36 percent of the college’s total enrollment.
The college’s capital fund is supported both by state aid and local county contributions. This fund covers renovations to the main campus, work that is often bonded for. Other counties outside of Cortland and Tompkins that send students also are assessed fees to pay the the principal on the loans, while Cortland and Tompkins counties pay the interest, Haynes said.
Cortland legislators had questioned the frequency of the building improvements on campus, Haynes said. He noted TC3 is in the midst of only its second capital project since 1998. This is a $7 million project to create a new Enrollment Services Center, add classrooms and update other portions of the building.
The TC3 Foundation has paid for other recent construction projects that did not address the college’s main building, such as the college’s Culinary Center and restaurant in Ithaca, its farm in Dryden, its dormitories on campus and extension centers in Cortland and Ithaca, according to the presentation. The foundation pays for its projects with grants, endowment income, student housing rentals and other facility rentals, as well as donations.
Legislators also asked the college how its solar farm was funded.
The TC3 foundation leases land to an independent power company and the college purchases power from the company at a slightly lower cost than New York State Electric & Gas Corp. offers, according to the presentation. The solar farm is expected to save the college $30,000 a year on energy costs and TC3 does not pay for the equipment, installation or maintenance of the solar array.
“These are investments they’re making to help offset the cost of the college,” Whitney said of the solar farm and other building projects.
Money managing
After Friday’s meeting, Whitney asked Haynes and the Tompkins County legislators for two weeks to determine how much the Cortland County Legislature can contribute.
The county’s new budget and finance director, Peggy Mousaw, started on Monday and needs to go through the county budget, Whitney said.
“None of us really, truly know our financial position,” Whitney said of the legislators, adding they are not confident in their current data.
Jim Dennis, vice chair of the Tompkins County Legislature, said Cortland County’s delay was acceptable and would not interfere with TC3’s or Tompkins County’s budget deadlines.
The Tompkins County Legislature was prepared to agree to the requested 4 percent contribution increase at Friday’s meeting, Dennis said.
Representatives from both legislatures will likely get together again in the next couple of weeks to discuss the contribution level, but no date has been set, he said.
If the counties decide to fund the college at a lower percentage level, TC3 would lose a total of $45,000 in revenue for every point reduced, Whitney told his fellow legislators in the email.
A 4 percent funding contribution increase for Cortland County would cost $67,475, he wrote.
Under the proposed budget, Cortland County would pay a total of $1,754,372 to support the college.
TC3 must approve its budget on June 18, while the Cortland County Legislature acts on the budget on June 25 and Tompkins County does the same on July 7.
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