Includes 5% tuition hike but no primary property tax increase; secondary tax levy drops by 14.2 percent

The Yavapai Community College Governing Board unanimously approved the budget for the 2020 academic year at its meeting May 14.  This was the last meeting for three months of  the Board.

The budget included a 5% tuition increase but no primary tax increase.  Because the Community College applied $4 million dollars it received from selling its facilities in the Prescott Valley Town Hall, it was able to reduce the secondary primary property tax levy by 14.2 percent.  (Recall that the secondary property tax is used to pay off the 2000 $69.5 million bond issue approved by voters that year.)

There was no serious public opposition to the budget. Only three persons spoke at the call to the public about it.

Funding in the approved budget included revenue for Building “L” on the Verde Campus to  expand the nursing and allied health programs, while adding new programs in emergency medical services, paramedicine, and home health care. Building “L” is expected to be finished by the fall 2020 semester.

Figures issued by College suggest decline of $624,000 in tuition revenue in 2018 when compared to four years earlier despite tuition increases every year

The tuition data released by the Community College at the March 2019 Governing Board meeting should be worrying to the Governing Board and Administration.  According to the data, the College took in about $624,000 less in tuition than it did four years ago.  This is despite tuition increase in every year over the past decade.

According to the data, four years ago students on the west side of the County took 35,504 credit hours in the fall.  However, in the 2017-18 academic year they took only 32,737, a decline of 2,767 credits.  Students in the east region took in the same period took 8,900 credit hours four years earlier and 9,603 credit hours in the 2017-18 academic year; an increase of 703 credit hours.  The net loss to the College in the fall was 2,064 credit hours.

In the spring semester four years ago, students on the west side of the County took 36,568 credit hours.  However, in the 2017-18 spring semester they took only 32,345 credit hours.  This was a decline of 4,225 credit hours.  Students in the east region took 8,897 credit hours four years and 8,938 in the spring 2018.  This is an increase of 41 credit hours.  The net loss to the College in this period (4225 – 41 =.4,184.)

The overall loss of credit hours in 2018 when compared to four years earlier appears to be 6,248 credit hours.  If these figures are correct, the Community College tuition revenue in the past academic year was down by $624,800 dollars when compared to four years earlier (using $100 tuition x 6248 credit hours) (tuition runs from $87, $100, $110, market).

A few years ago, the College announced it has lost about a million dollars in revenue from problems with enrolling students in its aviation program.  The College has not recently reported the status of that program or compared it with years earlier. That information should be included in the next tuition report.  It may have skewed this data, to some extent.

With 769,000 gross square feet and 51 buildings, College fixed maintenance costs over next ten years may reach $32 million dollars

Community College Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services, Dr. Clint Ewell, outlined in detail to the Governing Board at the March meeting the anticipated maintenance costs the Community College was facing in the District over the next three to ten years.  According to information supplied Dr. Ewell by consultants, the College will need at least $19 million dollars over the next three years to maintain and repair existing facilities.

The District currently has 769,000 of gross square feet in 51 buildings.  Most of the $19 million will go into maintaining the Prescott Campus because it has the largest number of  buildings.  The greatest needs are in the electrical and HVAC areas.

Dr. Ewell also reported that the consultants anticipated the College will need at least $32 million over the next ten years to ensure proper maintenance of the buildings on its campuses and centers in the District.

You may view Dr. Ewell’s five minute report to the Board on this subject below.

Also assumes it will receive $1 million from the County’s new construction tax; big jump from past years

Yavapai Community College unveiled its assumptions about the 2019 budget in its meeting with the Governing Board last Tuesday.  In a short presentation, Vice President Dr. Clink Ewell explained that the College anticipated it would receive about $1 million in revenue from the Yavapai County new construction tax.  This is a substantial jump in revenue from this source when compared to the last several years.

Dr. Ewell also told the Board that the Administration did not anticipate asking for a property tax rate increase.  He said that the Administration would most likely ask the Governing Board to increase student tuition by about $4.00 per credit.

Dr. Ewell’s short presentation and explanation to the Governing Board regarding this aspect of the 2019 budget appears in the video clip below.

Why not use it in a manner that will create $4.4 million in student scholarship aid?  Or, give faculty a one-time bonus?  No one in the administration is talking about those kinds of alternatives

Commentary

Yavapai Community College has received back $4.4 million from the town of Prescott Valley pursuant to an agreement made in 2007.  Rather than apply the money to the 2018-19 budget to cover capital costs (the $4.4 million must be used for capital), the College has announced it intends to bank the money and use it for future capital projects.  (See Video.)

Wouldn’t a better use of the windfall to apply the $4.4 million to the 2018-19 capital budget and use the primary taxpayer $4 million now linked to capital expenses to establish student scholarship aid?  Or, provide staff with a one-time bonus?  So far, the Board has shown no inclination to do anything more than to bank the $4.4 million so it can build the future soccer field or some other similarly wasteful project.

The history of the $4.4 million begins February 26, 2007 when the College entered a memorandum of understanding with the Town of Prescott Valley and agreed that it would provide money to build in the Prescott Valley Library facilities to be used for “a wide range of educational services, including library services, classroom instruction, administration, and cultural performances.” In January 2008 the College and the Town of Prescott Valley broke ground on a joint use facility for the stated purpose of providing classrooms, administrative offices and a library complex at the Prescott Hall library.  A combination of bond proceeds and funds from the districts Future Capital Projects Accumulation Fund were used for the project.

The Community College joined with Northern Arizona University around 2010 to provide an experimental three-year full college degree granting program at the facility.  The idea was apparently that the Community College would teach two-year courses and NAU handle upper division courses.  The arrangement fell through a couple of years ago and the College asked for its money back.  The Town of Prescott Valley agreed.  Finally, the money has been returned to the College.

The College explains how it is handling the $4.4 million in the short video below.