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Next year tight,
says RCC board
The Rogue Community
College Board of Educa-
tion approved in June the
college’s proposed $26.6
million budget for 2003-
04.
Reaching agreements
with faculty and classified
associations on salary
freezes and benefit adjust-
ments played a key role in
responding to the severe
budget crunch facing the
college, said RCC Presi-
dent Rick Levine. Mem-
bers of each association
had previously approved
the agreements and the
board accepted the
changes. RCC administra-
tors’ wages have also been
frozen for FY 2003-04.
In compiling the
budget, college administra-
tors had faced a $2.86 mil-
lion revenue reduction in
state funding over the next
two years. Adding to budg-
etary problems is RCC’s
share of the unfunded actu-
arial liability caused by the
shortfall in the Oregon
Public Employees Retire-
ment System (PERS), ex-
pected to cost the college
an additional $1.2 million
per year.
To attain a balanced
budget the college has in-
creased tuition and fees,
reduced programs, person-
nel, and expenditures, and
attained greater operating
efficiencies through a col-
lege-wide redesign proc-
ess. The approved budget
returns RCC to 1998 fund-
ing levels.
“Thanks to the collabo-
rative spirit of these bar-
gaining processes with the
associations we have been
able to maintain program
quality. The agreements
are especially important as
we are facing steadily
eroding state support. We
truly appreciate the hard
work that went into this
process and the outcomes
we’ve been able to arrive
at,” Levine said.
RCC had worked to
build “zero cost” agree-
ments that would neither
cost the college additional
money nor hurt employees.
RCC uses a unique ap-
proach to collective bar-
gaining, working with
teams comprised of asso-
ciation member and man-
agement representatives,
said Tom Bradbeer, em-
ployee relations manager.
The agreement reached
with members of the RCC
Oregon School Employees
Association will result in a
freeze on classified staff
salaries in 2003-04; they
will receive a cost-of-
living adjustments for the
following year.
The agreement also
provides a new tiered-rate
system for group health
insurance, replacing the
former composite rate sys-
tem. The employee share
of individual, two-party, or
full-family coverage will
be specified. Under the
new agreement the college
share will increase no
more than 6 percent per
year beyond the new cap.
Approximately 178 em-
ployees are covered by the
agreement.
The faculty agreement
calls for a reduction in
contract days from 182 to
177, but does not decrease
days of instruction. Salary
schedule for faculty is fro-
zen for 2003-04.
Instructors eligible for
step increases will not re-
ceive the raise until Janu-
ary 2004.
The agreement also
refines workload adjust-
ments based on class sizes
and adds security for ad-
junct instructors.
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, July 16, 2003