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Editorial
Here's an idea: Start negotiating
In the interest of saving the college money, since that is what contract negotiations has become about instead of the original goal of creating a "fair and equitable" contract for full time faculty, The Advocate has came up with a solution to the ever-increasing budget woes of Mt. Hood Community College.
We went through the "Proposed list of select trade offs for balancing 2011-12," which lists various opportunities for the college to save money by cutting certain costs.
After many hours of tedious math calculations (an exaggeration), we have created a combination of cutting costs and faculty concessions that can fill the $5.5 million gap in the budget. That is if, in fact that $5.5 million is the number we are truly working with.
These changes provide $3,119,500 in savings alone and we can factor in some restructuring of programs, which we could say the college could find ways to save at minimum $500,000. That leaves a gap of about $1.8 million for the faculty and board to haggle about.
Does any of this make any sense? Are these proposals reasonable? Are the figures accurate? Does The Advocate really know anything about the economic realities above?
It doesn't really make any difference. This is just meant to show that there are always a variety of ways to solve a problem — not just one way. And it shows that a little flexibility, along with an open mind, might go a long way toward solving the problem at hand.
The Advocate thinks that if the district board would just start looking elsewhere for the funds that they until now have been putting on the backs of the full-time faculty, the savings could more easily be found and then they would have a much better bargaining position — and could actually start negotiating.
We propose the following:
Cuts
Eliminate staff appreciation lunch entirely = $6,000
Discontinue professional development for non-represented staff = $12,500
Outsource management of Aquatic Center = $60,000
Eliminate two of eight vice president positions = $372,000
Eliminate two of 23 dean/administrator positions = $280,000
Eliminate five of 161 classified positions = $395,000
Eliminate one position in the IT department = $79,000
Increase class sizes and reduce number of part-time faculty by 8% = $480,000
Total savings=$1,684,500
Increase in revenue
Increase tuition $2 per credit hour = $500,000
Charge a parking fee of $50 per term = $900,000
Increase fees charged to third parties for room rentals by 20% = $35,000
Total increase=$1,435,000
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.