Page 1.indd - Wingspan

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Wingspan
campus news
October 10, 2011
wingspan.lccc.wy.edu
Board of Trustees
Board explores true operating costs of CDC
By Will Hebert
Co-Editor
The Laramie County Community
College Board of Trustees decided to seek
documentation on the college’s programs
that use the Children’s Discovery Center
to determine whether those programs
should contribute to covering the CDC’s
operating costs.
Previously, the CDC had a deficit of
more than $645,000 that had accumulated
during the past 10 years, and other
areas within the auxiliary fund such as
the residence hall and bookstore had
been carrying the deficit during the 10
years.
At a business meeting on Sept. 21, the
trustees decided to transfer $645,275.23
from the general fund to the auxiliary
fund to repay the CDC’s deficit. Thomas
said this would provide the CDC with a
clean slate, and the college would be able
to tell its true operating costs because any
subsequent deficits could not be attributed
to the previous deficit.
Thomas said the current labor structure
of the CDC prevents making a profit
because the college pays up to 30 percent
in benefits to CDC staff. The facility is
owned and operated by the college.
The Laramie
County Community
College Board of
Trustees approved
a budget revision of
$183,156.14 to replace
a gearbox on a wind
turbine generator.
Funds for the
budget revision are
to come from the
U.S. Air Force/U.S.
Department of
Defense through the
college’s auxiliary
fund.
According to an
email from Interim
President Dr. Miles
LaRowe, the college
and F.E. Warren Air
Force Base through
the Department of
Defense entered
into an agreement
in March 2011. The
agreement said the
LCCC wind energy
technology program
would participate in
training, service and
maintenance for the
base wind turbines.
In conjunction
with the agreement,
the wind energy
technology progam
will oversee the
replacement of the
gearbox, and the
U.S. Air Force/U.S.
Department of
Defense will fund the
expense, LaRowe’s
email said.
At an earlier business
meeting Sept.
21, the following budget
revision requests
involving equipment
purchases and major
maintenance projects
were approved:
• An expansion of
the Albany County
Campus parking
lot by 47 spaces
of an estimated
“I won’t even claim that its mismanagement
or anything. It’s a structural
problem that we have here,” Thomas
said.
The CDC reached maximum enrollment
this month and now has a waiting
list of 61 people, Jerry Harris, LCCC director
of contracting and procurement, said.
He said that a year and a half ago, the
CDC’s enrollment was only at 70 percent
capacity.
A big challenge in terms of enrollment
the CDC faces now is trying to maintain
enrollment during the summer, Harris
said.
“In our summer months, our enrollment
drops because certain people take
their children out, and we have not been
able to find a niche to fill those enrollment
numbers back up,” Harris said. He
said the program has been working on
how it can reduce its staffing levels at the
same time enrollment goes down.
Harris said the facility must adhere to
state-required ratios for staff to enrollment.
He said for every five children enrolled,
the facility must have two adults,
and for every four infants, the facility
must have one adult.
“If you increase enrollment, staff has
to grow, and it’s a balancing that’s very
additional cost of
$77,000. The project
was initially
approved $128,000
in the 2012 fiscal
year budget;
however, because
of requirements
of the city of
Laramie, additional
funding was
needed for a total
cost of $205,000.
• Design and construction
costs
of $73,000 for
renovations to the
Administration
Building’s pergola.
Renovation costs
of $125,000 were
approved for fiscal
year 2012, but
because of exterior
renovation needs,
additional funding
was needed.
An additional
$145,000 major
maintenance
funding will be
added to the project
for a total cost
of $343,000.
• Two fleet vehicles
costing $41,768 to
replace vehicles
that have passed
the 100,000-mileage
limitation.
• Two 14-passenger
coaches costing
$87,786 to replace
coaches that have
exceeded the
100,000-mileage
limitation.
• Purchase of instructional
equipment,
which will
to be determined,
costing $500,000.
• Purchase of
grounds equipment
to replace
obsolete equipment
costing
$130,000.
tough to manage. Very tough,” Harris
said.
Thomas said a few alternatives could
alleviate the problem, one of which
would be to examine what academic programs
benefit from using the CDC and
take funding from those areas.
Programs such as nursing and early
childhood development currently use the
CDC in their curricula, and depending on
how much these programs use the CDC,
funding might be reallocated to the CDC
from them, the trustees said.
“If we’re providing clinical effectively
for these departments, then some of that
money may need to come from those
departments,” Thomas said.
The trustees said funding to the CDC
from other programs that use the facility
could come from the tuition revenue of
the programs.
The other alternative Thomas suggested
was to subsidize the CDC, so the
college would still offer the service but
not carry the financial burdens. He said
if the CDC were operated by an outside
group, the same 30 percent benefit
package the college must now offer
employees would not apply to the facility,
allowing it a greater opportunity to
profit.
• Completing the
third floor of the
Health Science
Building as prioritized
in the facility
master plan costing
$1.2 million
“I think the building should be on our
master plan. I don’t think we ought to
own the building or necessarily operate
it. That’s one way to look at it. Just like
UW has a building for us on their campus,”
Thomas said. “I think it’s a service
that ought to be on the campus; it’s just
how do we provide it and how does the
thing work.”
The Board of Trustees’ secretary Carol
Merrell said the CDC provides a service
to the community, and community
services do not always break even. Harris
said 58 percent of people utilizing the
CDC’s child care services were from the
community; 21 percent were students,
and another 21 percent were faculty and
staff.
Harris also said the reputation of the
CDC has changed in the last few years.
“When I took over the center, people
were leaving like flies,” Harris said. “We’ve
changed that reputation. I’ve had several,
and I won’t mention any names, but I’ve
had lawyers and doctors come say: ‘Nice
job. We want a spot in your center.’ That’s
why we have 61 people on the waiting
list.”
The trustees will re-examine the issue
in early 2012.
Board of Trustees approves new budget revisions
with the remaining
balance being
funded by remaining
bond funds for
a total project cost
of $1.5 million.
• Phase I lighting
upgrades as prioritized
in facility
master plan costing
$500,000.
The additions to
the budget totalled
$2,937,710.14.
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