PVCC braces for budget cuts

Piedmont Virginia Community College officials expect to learn next week precisely how deep the state will slash the college’s budget — cuts that may lead to job cuts and tuition increases.

“The news basically is that we’re pretty certain we’ll hear from the governor next week about the budget cuts,” PVCC President Frank Friedman told the College Board on Wednesday. “Let’s just stay optimistic. Optimistic would be a 5 percent reduction. I can’t imagine it’ll be less than that.”

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has asked all state agencies to submit plans of how they would deal with 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent cuts of their state tax allocation. Kaine is seeking ways to close an estimated $1.5 billion budget shortfall brought about by lower than expected tax revenues amidst the economic downturn.

A 5 percent cut of PVCC’s state allocation would equal $422,214, while a 10 percent cut would be $844,429 and a 15 percent cut would be $1.26 million.

If Kaine orders a 5 percent cut of the community college system, PVCC will manage to absorb the reductions without cutting any jobs, Friedman said.

If the cuts are above 10 percent, he added, layoffs would be implemented as a last resort.

“It becomes a possibility if the reduction hits 10 percent or above,” Friedman said. “But even if it’s 10 percent or above, [layoffs] are not a certainty.”

PVCC faculty and staff are already stretched to the limit coping with a record fall enrollment and declining state revenue, Friedman said.

“We need our people,” he said. “Of course we’re going to do everything possible to keep them.”

The University of Virginia, meanwhile, has announced that it expects it can cope with the upcoming budget cuts without resorting to layoffs.

In mid-September, the Virginia Community Colleges Board is scheduled to convene and is expected to consider the possibility of a tuition increase at PVCC and other institutions to partially offset the budget cuts.

Friedman said any viable tuition increase almost certainly would not be enough to make up for the revenue losses brought about by state budget cuts.

“It would not be possible to offset the entire reduction,” he said. It’s just too large a burden to put on the students at one time.”

PVCC’s record student enrollment will help the college’s revenue problems a bit, as the students are expected to generate an estimated $150,000 in tuition revenue more than the college originally anticipated, said Bill Jackameit, PVCC’s vice president for finance and administrative services.

Jackameit also told the board that construction of PVCC’s Kluge-Moses Science Building is roughly 60 percent finished and will be completed by April 1.

The facility aims to expand PVCC’s ability to train health care professionals and will house state-of-the-art space for science departments.

In other business, Friedman reported to PVCC’s board that the college still has not received ownership of the former Monticello visitors center.

PVCC intends to open a workforce development facility in the vacant building, a move that would greatly expand the college’s job training offerings for unemployed and underemployed Charlottesville residents.

Piedmont officials had expected to receive permission from Virginia to take ownership of the building at some point between April 15 and May 1.

Friedman said he expects PVCC will receive the keys to the building in the next couple of weeks. The delays in the state’s approval process, he said, have been “bureaucratic” in nature but appear to have been resolved.

“After a slowdown in the process, it has picked back up,” Freidman said. “We should see this wrapping up very soon.”