OC approves budget

Odessa College trustees approved a largely flat budget during their regular July meeting.

The $33.4 million budget increases less than 1 percent over last year, with a decrease in capital requests from more than $1 million to $400,000.

The budget is tight because of an expected major decrease in tax revenue due to mineral evaluations and the loss of the Flint Hills plant, but the actual numbers weren’t quite as bad as expected, only $180,000 less than last year.

Tied to the budget is a $5 per credit hour increase in in-district tuition for the spring and the same for high school concurrent classes starting in the fall.

“We are behind where we needed to be in revenue due to discounts, but still this is significant savings off the normal tuition rate,” trustee Finance Chair Gary Johnson said.

As part of the budget, college employees will receive a 2.5 percent pay increase, plus an additional $500 for clerical workers.

“We are still mostly able to do the things we want here though it’s a tight budget,” Johnson said.

In other financial matters, trustees heard a report on the appraisal district’s budget, which is increasing 0.87 percent over last year, particularly with the addition of a records management clerk. Vice President for Business Affairs Virginia Chisum said OC will contribute $185,000 to the group, which is $2000 more than last year. The total budget is $2.1 million.

Trustees also approved Compass Bank as the college depository institution and approved a bid from Grounds for Play to mainly build some ADA-compliant padding under the playground of the Children’s Center. The project is planned for completion the third week of September.

Chisum delivered the quarterly investment report, which shows a decline she said was routine throughout the quarter. Investments stood at $27.7 million, partly due to the college picking up funding for health insurance from the state.

OC President Gregory Williams told trustees that the wind energy program with Texas State Technical College is on track. An agreement was signed, and the college expects to start the partnership in the fall. He said the college is also interested in partnering with TSTC on a green construction program and is interested in starting a solar energy program.

He said summer enrollment is up from 2007, the last time summer tuition was not discounted. The first session was up 16 percent, while the second was up 33 percent.

“We had an excellent summer,” Williams said.