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WCCC Funding Must Be Examined
Posted 4-19-2000
On June 30, 2000 Westmoreland County's thirty-year local sponsor agreement
with Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC) comes to an end. I feel
confident that this Board of Commissioners will renew the agreement, but
there are a number of issues we must first resolve before signing the next
agreement.
Let me first say, the
community college has been very successful and I'm sure greatly surpasses
the dreams of those visionaries, who back in the 1960's began the effort to
create a Community College in Westmoreland County. The size of the
enrollment, the excellent physical assets, and the diverse curriculum are
far superior to whatever was dreamt in those early days. I also think the
Community College's plans for the future provide a great opportunity for
people of all ages looking for educational opportunities beyond high school.
The responsibility of the
local sponsor is a challenging one for county government. This year the
county will spend over $4.5 million on the Community College. One mill of
taxes brings in roughly $3.2 million and we tax at the rate of 14.99 mills.
So roughly ten percent of the revenue we generate from taxes goes toward
operating WCCC. Increases in our subsidies have fluctuated over the years
but the percentage increase in total appropriation was 3.5% in 1998, 4.9% in
1999, and 5.0% this year.
We can expect the debt
service portion to go up again. It is now $934,658 and covers nearly one
half of all capital projects. We agreed to help with one half of the
construction cost of the $7.5 million Emergency Service Training Center that
will be built and operated by the Community College. The project is an
important one to our emergency service community (fire, police, and EMS) and
has been in the works for a long time.
With that expectation we need
to develop an understanding with the WCCC Board of Trustees and its
President, that the growth of the appropriation for the operating portion of
their budget will be capped somewhere in the neighborhood of 2% per year.
As I have written many times,
the county will be facing lean times ahead and the entities we support must
expect to experience modest (in any) growth in their appropriation. Instead
of looking to the county, with our limited means of generating revenue, I
hope WCCC and the other community colleges across Pennsylvania look to the
Commonwealth who is sitting on a $1 billion surplus. Harrisburg meanwhile,
is coming up with such brilliant ideas as giving back money to property
owners $100 at a time (total $300 million).
Rather, it could be doing
something meaningful like helping community colleges with a better
reimbursement ratio. In the current system, when enrollment declines
(usually during strong economic times) state subsidies decline. So with
declining state support the local sponsor is asked to increase subsidies.
Another alternative for the
Community College for raising more revenue is an increase in tuition. The
tuition for the current semester is $48/ credit hour. It will go up to $50
in the fall semester. With the increase, they are still the second lowest
tuition among community colleges in Pennsylvania. Each dollar of tuition
translates into about $100,000 in revenue for the Community College.
Even if they increased
tuition $10 dollars per credit, there would still be ten community colleges
with tuition higher and only four with tuition lower. Also, every dollar
doesn't come from the students' pockets as many receive Pell Grants. An
increase of that magnitude wouldn't effect competition for WCCC within our
county because the next closest tuition is Pitt-Greensburg at $204 per
credit.
I think the relationship
between county government and WCCC should be maintained for many years. It
is certainly an asset that makes our county a better place to live.
I hope to meet with the
Trustees soon to begin the process of drawing up the next local sponsor
agreement. We just need to shape an agreement that mutually respects the
needs of the Community College and the taxpayers of Westmoreland County.
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