GCC avoids layoffs from deficit

By Rhonda Simmons
Staff Writer

Published: October 15, 2008

CULPEPER, Va. - Despite Gov. Tim Kaine’s order last week to reduce overall state spending by five percent due to the slumping economy, Germanna Community College will avoid layoffs while cutting $577,291 from its fiscal year 2009 operating budget.

However, plans to expand new health-related programs will be put on hold until further notice, according to college officials.

State funding appropriates about half of Germanna’s $22 million budget. The remaining money comes primarily from tuition and fees from the college’s total enrollment of 13,000 students.

More than 1,000 students are Culpeper residents.

The reductions include eliminating optional travel and membership spending, cutting non-personnel expenses by reducing the purchase of supplies and furniture and deferring additions or expansions of the Allied Health Programs.

Germanna President David A. Sam said he was grateful that the cuts were not more than 5 percent.

Last month, Sam shared his dismal 5, 10, and 15 percent reduction plan with the community college’s board - just in case.

“We greatly appreciate the governor understanding how important the investment in community colleges is in turning the economy around and doing all he could to keep the cuts from hindering the performance of our mission here,” Sam said last week.

“We are thankful that we will not be forced to lay any of our people off. We understand the severity of the budget situation and the necessity for all parties to participate and make sacrifices. But, in addition to the human impact it would have had on families, losing people would have made our job of helping prepare the region for economic resurgence very difficult.”

Germanna employs 520 people at its three campuses: the Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper, Locust Grove and the Fredericksburg campus in Spotsylvania.

Last year, Germanna’s state budget funding was cut by 4 percent, causing college officials to freeze and/or postpone hiring.

Statewide, Kaine announced his revenue reforecast last week, predicting a two-year, $2.5 billion shortfall.

The plan laid off 570 state workers, left 800 unfilled jobs vacant, delayed state pay raises and borrowed $400 million from the state’s rainy-day fund.

However, this year’s cuts won’t deter Germanna’s approach to expanding its facilities.

College officials continue to move forward with plans to open a center in North Stafford next year and to begin construction of a third building at the college’s crowded Fredericksburg Campus.

“We would be mortgaging our future if we were to put these plans off now because of the hard times of the moment and we had to turn students away later as a result,” Sam said. “So we ask local donors to invest in our area’s future by helping us build these facilities.”

Germanna serves the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Culpeper, Madison, Orange, Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George and Caroline.

University budget cuts
At the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, President Judy G. Hample sees the 7 percent reduction as a positive outcome, considering it could have been much worst.

“Given the range of possibilities from 0 to 15 percent, this is actually good news,” she wrote via e-mail last week.

The university will cut $1.7 million in general state funding, according to Hample.

The university has no plans to lay off any employees at this time.

UMW Executive Vice President Rick Hurley said the university would use “position turnover dollars,” which means hiring novice employees to replace higher-paid retiring workers, delay some equipment purchases and postpone some projects to save money.

Additionally, Kaine announced that a 2 percent salary increase set for December would be delayed until July 2009.

“Our institution is strong and will weather this latest setback as it has before,” Hample added. “I am confident that we will emerge from these financially stressful times as strong as ever.”

Rhonda Simmons can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 125 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).