LCC board OKs 2025-26 budget, praises college president 

The Lane Community College Board of Education approved a general fund budget of $108.1 million, after rebuffing attempts by a board member to revamp the spending plan to ease the impact of cuts to the college programs and services.

The board approved the budget on a 5-1 vote at a June 4 meeting. Board member Austin Fölnagy cast the dissenting vote, after three of his motions to amend the budget failed on identical 3-3 votes. 

“I voted no because the students asked me to,” said Fölnagy, who was wearing a button that said “I’m pro-student.”

Even though the general fund budget is $108.1 million, the plan is to sock away $4.1 million into a contingency fund as a first step in a years-long effort to restore LCC’s ending fund balance — essentially, its reserves — to the level required by board policy. The goal is to get the balance to about $12.6 million by the end of the 2028-29 school year. The balance is about $8.6 million now.

Kara Flath, Lane Community College vice president of finance and operations, has said that in recent years, the school spent about 2% more in its general fund than it collects in revenue and has been filling the shortfall with money from its ending fund balance.

The approved budget includes a variety of cutbacks for the school year that begins July 1 — and sets the stage for additional cuts that could total $10 million or so over the following three years.

Among cuts called for in the 2024-25 budget is $675,000 from programs and services. Each of Fölnagy’s three motions sought to reduce the amount of those cuts. (Lane Community College President Stephanie Bulger said at the meeting that college officials do not know where those cuts will be made.)

For instance, Fölnagy’s first motion sought to add $145,000 to the school’s revenue by budgeting for an enrollment increase of 2.5% instead of the 2% in the budget. (Lane Community College enrollment has increased 18% during Bulger’s three years as president.)

But Keith Comer, the college’s director of institutional research and effectiveness, outlined the administration’s rationale for the 2% figure, pointing in particular to a “leveling off” in the number of new students projected to attend next school year. 

Other factors add to enrollment doubts, he said, including an expected dropoff in the number of high school graduates.

“This is that demographic cliff that’s being talked about in all kinds of ways, and it’s not as dramatic in Oregon as it is in, for example, California, (but) for us, it’s 19% over the next 17 or so years,” Comer said.

In addition, he said, “uncertainty and confusion” around federal student aid could impact enrollment. About 29% of LCC students receive Pell Grants, for example.

Given those factors and others, college officials decided that budgeting for a 2% increase in enrollment was prudent, even though board members including Denise Diamond argued enrollment was likely to surpass that — and betting on a higher number would be “a very small risk.”

“I share your optimism,” Bulger told Diamond. “But there’s still so many unknowns.”

Board member Steve Mital warned against straying from the 2% enrollment estimate, noting the college’s budget committee used that number in approving the spending plan.

“The administration will do its best to boost enrollment,” he said. “I think we need to stay the course, stay the path and confront the difficult decisions that we know we have before us over the next several years.”

Fölnagy, Diamond and Zach Mulholland, the board chair, voted for the motion. Mital, Julie Weismann and Kevin Alltucker, the board vice-chair, voted against. Fölnagy’s two other motions to amend the budget failed on the same 3-3 count.

Lane Community College’s total budget is about $282.8 million, but the general fund pays for nearly 90% of its payroll and more than half of its materials and supplies.

The property tax rate for the college remains at about 62 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Under state law, assessed property values cannot increase more than 3% a year. 

Bulger wins high marks from board

Citing her “strong and effective leadership,” the college’s Board of Education gave Bulger a positive evaluation as she finishes her third year in the position.

In a statement from board members Mital and Mulholland on behalf of the board, Bulger was praised for her work in three specific areas:

• Developing a shared understanding of the college’s fiscal condition.
• Developing an enrollment and retention system to boost LCC enrollment.
• Strengthening the institutional climate of the college, which the board called “a long-standing concern that precedes her tenure.”

The board’s statement said it is “grateful to President Bulger for her strategic leadership and looks forward to another successful year.”