Thanks to some careful planning and budgeting Chesapeake College will be getting a new phone system in January.
Dr. Barbara Viniar, president of the college, and Mike Kilgus, vice president of Administrative Services, met with the commissioners at their Tuesday meeting to discuss the request. Because Chesapeake College is a regional community college it is funded in part by contributions from the five participating Eastern Shore counties; Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Dorchester, and Caroline. When the college has a budget request school representatives have to go before each of the counties and ask permission.
The college is in “good fiscal circumstances,” Viniar said, thanks to an expected cut in funding from the state that never materialized that was accounted for in last year’s budget and an increase in student enrollment. The college is currently sitting on $3.5 million in its fund balance. The college needs to maintain $2.1 million in the fund balance to be able to pay its bills.
The new phone system will cost $500,000 and will include an emergency alert system, something Viniar said the college desperately needs. “We don’t have a PA system and when the earthquake happened we had no way to notify everyone on campus,” she said. The new system would save about $6,500 a year in maintenance and repair costs.
The commissioners approved the request.
The second request was more difficult. The college would like to use $686,559 from its fund balance to pay for the design costs for a new Allied Health and Athletics building. The new space would not only be used for sports but also to house the college’s nursing programs. The programs are currently located at Easton Memorial Hospital. However, once the hospital moves to its new location there won’t be any space for the college.
Chesapeake would like to move the nursing classes to campus, but does not currently have the space. The state has allocated $27 million for the proposed Allied Health and Athletics center, but if Chesapeake doesn’t move on the project in the next year it will lose the money. The sticking point is what the contribution will be from the five counties and in what fiscal year budget the project will be included.
The college is hoping that by taking on the cost of the design portion of the project it will help ease the load on the counties. Viniar said that if the college pays for the design the county won’t have to account for the new building until the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. It would also make Kent County’s funding portion $1.1 million.
Viniar stated the success of the college’s nursing program and how the majority of graduates continue to work on the Eastern Shore. She also mentioned the construction jobs that would be created by the new building.
The commissioners were concerned that by approving the design phase of the project they will have unintentionaly put the county on the hook to fund the rest of the nursing school relocation.
“No one is arguing that it’s not a good project. It’s very worthy. I’ve never seen a worthier project, but I’m not ready to vote yet,” said Commissioner Alex Rasin.
Commissioner Ron Fithian said he would like to have the county’s finance department work out what the county’s financial commitment would be and the demand on the budget.
The commissioners said they would have an answer to Viniar about the design request in two weeks.
Lainey says
I like the idea of this project, but I dont see how the taxpayers of QAC can come up with thier share. QAC hasnt found out how to fund daily operations in the upcoming fiscal year let alone come up with another million + for the college.
Im not sure I see a need for a new phone system however. A PA system really? Email alerts, texting, etc are the wave of the future, why a PA system? I dont see the sense in that. Maybe those funds would be better spent on the Allied Health and Athletics Center that will generate revenue for the college.
Geobart says
Interesting how the Commissioners had no money to fund LOSAP (for the volunteer firefighters and EMT’s), but now that we’re past the beginning of the fiscal year, money is flowing like water.
Apparently the Commissioners quickly forget to take care of previous commitment and instead move onto new commitments.
Very disappointing.
Keith Thompson says
Lainey, I didn’t read that they are requesting a PA system. My take was that Dr. Viniar was saying that since the college doesn’t have a PA system to instantly alert faculty and students in an emergency, they need a phone system with an emergency alert system. Apparently the PA system context wasn’t entirely clear in the story, or perhaps I completely missed the point.
Ron Fithian says
It is amazing how quick some people are to jump on an issue and to try and hear what they want to hear in an article. Geobart says that money is flowing like water ever since the county was not able to fund LOSAP. The truth of the matter is that there is no NEW money being spent. The money in question is money that the college had left over in there budget that they wanted permission to spend on something different. Some people never let the facts stand in the way of a good sounding article!
Geobart says
With all due respect Commissioner, I also noticed a new parking lot at Public Works too (taking several weeks to construct). Was that “leftover money” too? Was that a necessary expense in these tough times?
Wonder which you need more? A parking lot (when you already had) or a new Gradall?
Lainey says
Either way I really dont see the county funding that will be needed from the 5 counties to complete this proposed expansion. But Ron Fithians comment “The money in question is money that the college had left over in there budget that they wanted permission to spend on something different.” raises more questions in my mind. Does a budget surplus get to stay at the college? Shouldn’t those funds go back to the counties coffers?
MBTroup says
@Lainey – Admittedly, I’m just drawing conclusions from the article. Since Commissioner Fithian has chimed in, I’m sure he’d gladly correct me. It appears that this surplus came from the fact that a State cut never materialized. So I’m not sure what rights 400 High (Or Lawyers Row in your case) would hold to 20% of $1.4million. That said, the Counties being the primary financiers of the College, have the check and balance in place to oversee how fund balances are spent.
I guess you could say the State lets the College jump. The Counties get to tell them how high.