Group E: PLANNING AND BUDGETING

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E-1. Master Planning

E-2. Provision of College Facilities

E-3. College Budget

E-4. Facilities Improvement and Maintenance

E-5. Capital Equipment Projects

E-6. Fund Balance

E-7. Property Taxes

E-8. Tuition and Fee Rates

E-9. Investment

E-10. Principles for Employee Compensation

E-11. Economic Analyses

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E-1. MASTER PLANNING

The President shall develop, in document form, for review and approval by the Board of Trustees, a comprehensive College Master Plan of a multi-range nature (long, medium, short) which encompasses the needs of the entire institution with specific attention given to educational, financial, and physical development planning. The College Master Plan will be based upon current determinations of community needs and responsible utilization of fiscal, physical, and human resources.

The Board policies on Ends To Be Produced, especially A-1, Mission of the College, shall be used as the foundation for College planning efforts.

The Master Plan, and the process used to develop it, shall adhere to the following planning principles:

[1] The main focus of ACC's planning will be to ensure that the regular activities of the College match community needs and are effective in enabling students, local employers, and the community sectors to reach their declared educational goals efficiently. Care must be taken in the planning process to ensure that new initiatives and current activities both have adequate, equitably-distributed resources.

[2] The accessibility of ACC to students who have few other educational options must be a pervasive concern in all College planning. Since any ineffective use of resources may directly lead to higher student tuition rates, the College must operate with exemplary efficiency to maximize student access and success and to avoid abuse of ACC's state and local tax subsidies.

[3] The College will provide efficiently-delivered high-quality instruction which closely matches student and community needs and enables rapid student progress to competence in their chosen fields. The College will minimize requirements which are not essential to meet a student's declared educational goals. The College will systematically provide the support needed for sustained high-quality instruction which develops the work habits and problem-solving skills needed for successful employment and educational advancement.

[4] The planning process will ensure compliance of College operations with Board policies and accreditation criteria.

[5] Institutional research must be an integral part of the College's planning and evaluation processes, and there must be a clear linkage between planning, budgeting, evaluation, and assessment.

[6] The Planning process will include recommendations from the instructional task forces, faculty, and staff in areas specific to their disciplines.

[7] The planning process will be open, with public access provided to the information on which plans are based and to the recommendations made at each stage of the planning process.

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E-2. PROVISION OF COLLEGE FACILITIES

The President, in the context of a multi-year facilities plan updated and submitted for Board approval annually as part of the integrated Master Plan called for in Policy E-1, shall ensure that facilities are provided and allocated so as to support effective instruction, reflect community needs and declared College priorities, and maximize long-term economic value.

1. Facilities planning and allocation shall be driven by responsiveness to the educational needs of students and of College employees engaged in providing services to students, who shall be consulted extensively during planning for facilities they will use. In addition to full provision for needed classrooms, laboratories, and learning resources, adequate space shall be provided for faculty offices, student activities, and administrative functions.
2. The facilities plan shall discuss the extent of unsatisfied demand due to facilities limitations, especially when related to programs or functions previously identified as College priorities, and any geographic demand/supply imbalances.
3. Facilities shall be built and maintained so as to give good long-term economic value, with a preference for owned rather than leased space. Care shall be taken to avoid practices (e.g., short-lived components, undersized classrooms) in which reduced initial construction costs are more than offset by increased operational costs.
4. The College shall develop analyses, based mainly on data from exemplary comparable institutions, to estimate the amount, type, and distribution of facilities appropriate for current and projected enrollments, program mix, and staffing levels.
5. As part of the annual facilities plan, the Board shall be provided a report updating these analyses, comparing current College facilities usage with desired patterns, and recommending priorities for facilities development.
6. The administration shall provide reasonable estimates, suitable for use in economic analyses of programs, of the typical annual costs of the various types of facility space used in College operations, including both operating costs and appropriate amortization of capital costs.
7. College facilities-development activities shall be conducted so as to respect other community priorities, including environmental protection and respect for the City of Austin's desired development zone.
8. Fundraising for facilities by the College and/or Foundation shall be for projects which have received Board approval.

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E-3. COLLEGE BUDGET

The President shall, prior to the end of June each year, develop and submit to the Board and for public review in written form a proposed annual budget which:

1. Provides adequate support for the educational programs of the College, based on efficient operation of both direct and support services.
2. Distributes resources primarily on objective criteria based on student enrollment and program needs.
3. Provides a justification or plan for correction of any substantial disparities in the resources supplied to serve students in similar programs at different campuses.
4. Budgets revenues and expenses based on actual expected performance. When there is substantial uncertainty about performance in an area, the associated budget projections should be moderately conservative; in such cases, the administration should describe its targets for the area and the range of plausible outcomes.
5. Budgets expected overall current-funds expenses plus transfers mandated by law or policy of less than expected current-funds revenues, and budgets fund balances within the limits imposed by policy E6, Fund Balance.
6. Is consistent with a multi-year master plan developed in compliance with policy E-1 on Master Planning.
7. Provides a recent history and a three-year plan for tuition/fee levels, enrollment, overall revenues and expenses, debt service, plant-fund expenditures, and fund-balance levels, with a description of planning assumptions and material changes.

When deemed appropriate by the administration, capital items in an annual budget may be purchased during the period after budget approval but prior to the start of the fiscal year.

The President shall inform the Board whenever the actual performance of the College differs materially from the approved budget, and shall propose corrective budget amendments if projected performance differs from the budget target for current-funds surplus by more than ½% of annual Education & General Fund revenues.

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E-4. FACILITIES IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE

Each annual budget shall make transfers to Plant Funds sufficient to meet all bond debt payments, maintain the debt payment reserve levels required by the bond agreements, and meet the year's installment of the current multi-year master plan for facilities improvements and maintenance. The building fee charged by the college per credit hour shall be budgeted at the level which, together with any other funding sources dedicated to these uses, is sufficient to generate the needed funds.

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E-5. CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PROJECTS

Each annual budget shall transfer not less than 4% or more than 6% of projected annual revenues to a fund from which Education and General fund capital expenditures are made. The full amount budgeted each year shall be based on the projected multi-year average budget for capital expenditures.

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E-6. FUND BALANCE

Austin Community College shall seek to achieve, on August 31 of each year, a Fund Balance, including Retirement of Indebtedness, equal to an amount not less than 15% and not greater than 25% of the unrestricted current fund expenditures plus mandatory transfers. If the Unrestricted Fund Balance is outside this percentage range, the President will present a corrective plan to the Board of Trustees.

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E-7. PROPERTY TAXES

The College President, as the Chief Executive Officer, shall use the following principles in planning and budgeting for local property tax rates:

1. To maintain a fair balance between financial support from taxes and from tuition, the rate shall be that which makes the fraction of revenues derived from taxes approximately match the average for Texas metropolitan-area community colleges, or a lower rate as needed to stay under the level which would require a tax election or keep the annual increase from exceeding one cent per $100 (or two cents per $100 if there has been no increase in the previous two years).
2. The homestead exemption for the Austin Community College District shall be the greater of $5000 or 1% of the assessed individual-property value.
3. The additional homestead exemption for elderly or disabled shall be $75,000.
4. The Austin Community College District shall participate in the system of tax reductions for properties designated as historical landmarks. The exemption shall be at the following rates:

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees adopted this policy on April 23, 1996 and amended it on September 9, 1996, October 6, 1997, April 6, 1998, and September 14, 1998.

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E-8. TUITION RATES

[1] The tuition rates for in-district students shall be set by the Board. Except when the Board explicitly directs otherwise, tuition rates for other students shall be set by the President in accordance with this policy.

[2] The per-credit-hour differential in tuition rates for students whose residence status is within Texas but outside the ACC district shall be approximately matched to the ratio of annual property-tax revenues to annual in-district credit-hours, except that any term-to-term increase in the differential shall be no more than $2 per credit-hour.

For any student eligible to receive college tuition assistance funds under a Pell Grant, and if such student applies or has applied for a Pell Grant for the academic term, ACC shall make available a scholarship program, upon a schedule developed by the President, to offset such differential until such time as the Pell Grant is received by the student.

[3] The further per-credit-hour differential in tuition rates for students who do not qualify as Texas residents shall be no less than the ratio of all revenues from state government to total credit hours by in-state students.

[4] Student fees must be approved annually by the Board with justifications, revenue/cost estimates, and proposed changes listed during budget deliberations.

[5] The President may adopt rules waiving all or part of the tuition and/or other charges for senior citizens or students enrolled under a joint-credit agreement with a school district, with an annual report to the Board on the nature and extent of such waivers.

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E-9. INVESTMENT

Full policy.

[Synopsis of Policy:

Austin Community College (ACC) shall invest its financial assets in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 2256. The priorities of investments shall be, in order: (1) safety, (2) appropriate liquidity, and (3) revenue generation.

The investment of College funds shall be managed by the Administrative Vice President and the Associate Vice President for Business Services who shall provide the Board with quarterly reports to the Board on investment activities. Investment officers and College Trustees shall take the investment-related training specified by law.]

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E-10. PRINCIPLES FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION

ACC intends to compensate employees so as to (1) attract and retain a workforce with sustained high effectiveness in meeting student learning needs, (2) act as an ethical and responsible employer, and (3) make efficient use of student and public higher-education expenditures. The President shall accordingly, consistent with fiscal constraints and meeting the College's other needs, develop plans and proposals to meet the following goals:

[1] Provide employment primarily on stable professional terms with an adequate level of regular staff to achieve excellence goals. However, the College shall use hourly, part-time, and temporary staffing when appropriate to match variations in work load.

[2] Have all employees receive fair pay for their contributions to the College mission, with no employee paid less than the community-accepted level of a "living wage".

[3] Provide a compensation package (including salary, benefits, time off, stipends, and awards) that is market-competitive. Priority for increasing compensation shall be for those positions that are at 95% or less of the market average or any other compensation target included elsewhere in this policy or set by the Board.

[4] For each type of position, the incumbents' compensation will, on the average, be market-competitive with those at the primary institutions for which the College competes for employees. Job content is the most important comparison point, but the size of the institution (i.e., its workforce) will also be considered. For adjunct faculty, the average ACC compensation shall be the average of the middle half of the distribution. The primary relevant comparison markets shall be: for non-faculty staff and administrators, similar local, regional, or national positions, as appropriate for the position; for full-time faculty, full time faculty with equivalent experience and education in Texas metropolitan community colleges; for adjunct faculty, lower-division classroom sections taught in the Austin metropolitan area by part-time faculty for other institutions of higher education. The administration may make reasonable estimates where needed to supplement published data.

[5] Arrange workloads of employees so that there is an equitable and reasonable assignment of responsibilities generally based on objective factors, and provide appropriate extra compensation or release time to employees who are asked to work significantly more than normal or during vacation/holiday times. Incorporate sufficient flexibility in leave rules to allow tradeoffs between salary and time off, whenever appropriate given the work needed by the College.

[6] Adjust pay scales annually to reflect cost-of-living changes (including inflation), with cost-of-living adjustments applied on the same basis to all pay scales. However, cost-of-living increases will be adjusted appropriately to reflect the greater impact of inflation in necessities on lower-income persons.

[7] Provide salary ranges that reflect appropriate adjustments for changes in effectiveness due to applicable education/ experience and completion of any mandatory professional development.

[8] The Board will, in response to Presidential recommendations based on this policy, adopt specific compensation goals as part of its biennial update of the College's strategic plan. During that review, the Board shall be provided information comparing College compensation rates to those typical of both the primary comparison groups and various other groups of employers that might be considered relevant. Information shall also be provided comparing the workloads and compensation of full-time and adjunct faculty at the College.

[9] Compensation rates and proposed changes in them are to be publicly announced and shall normally be implemented as part of the budget process. Compensation changes at other times shall be made only in cases of documented urgent need approved by the President, after informing the employee associations and considering their comments. Changes require specific Board approval if the action increases a person's compensation rate by 10% or more or if the cumulative unapproved changes to the budget during the year would exceed $10,000/month.

[10] As part of the budget process, the President shall recommend pay scales and stipends that, in his or her judgment, reflect the above principles to the extent feasible given other Board directives. Projections shall be provided with the planning/budget proposals of the funds needed for cost-of-living adjustment, market adjustments, changes in staffing levels, and the net cost of any experience increments. Board approval of pay scales and rules shall be based primarily on the extent to which the President's recommendation is consistent with the provisions of Board policy and planning directives.

[11] When a budget falls short of meeting the goals of this policy, the budget shall allocate between 4% and 6% of projected annual revenues for professional development, market-level adjustments, cost-of-living increases, experience adjustments, stipends, and awards.

[12] An appropriate relationship shall be maintained between the compensation packages of executives and senior administrators and the compensation for other classes of employees. Any compensation increase in excess of the average percentage increase for other employees for an employee serving as a College administrative officer requires specific Board approval.

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E-11. ECONOMIC ANALYSES

ACC's decisions are fundamentally driven by pursuit of its mission of community service rather than of financial gain for itself. Many of its activities of great value to the community do not generate a net profit to the College, and many others are close enough to breakeven that their finances have little strategic impact. But careful attention to the financial implications of College operations is still necessary to identify possibilities for improvement and expansion, to ensure allocation of limited resources in accordance with planned priorities, and to avoid waste. Accordingly:

[1] The President shall ensure that the economic analyses needed for planning and evaluation are conducted according to reasonable, clearly-stated principles that are applied in a consistent manner in all sectors.

[2] These principles shall make appropriate provision for matching costs with revenues, for recognition and allocation of indirect and capital costs, and for using appropriate methodologies for valuation and projection of cost and revenue elements in long term business analyses.

[3] The level of detail and sophistication of analyses may be adapted to the size and economic sensitivity of the topics.

[4] Analyses or projections provided to the Board shall report the sources of the information and the assumptions on which the analysis is based.

[5] Economic analyses are required for items submitted for Board approval involving total expenditures of $500,000 or more, or where otherwise specified in policy.

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Comments, suggestions? Last updated on May 3, 2000.