Menu
FSCC budget approved with slight mill levy decrease
mmunity College budget was approved Monday night with a slight decrease in the mill levy.
The approval came with a 4-0 vote from the FSCC Board of Trustees.
Voting via teleconferencing was trustee John Kerr. Trustee John Bartelsmeyer was not present.
| Dick Hedges vacated his board of trustees seat July 28 after he was appointed FSCC interim president. |
The estimated mill levy is down "slightly" from 2014, according to Karla Armstrong, dean of finance and operations. The mill levy for 2014 was 29.519 and at this time is set for 29.457 for 2015. Trustees do not have an exact amount because the valuation for Bourbon County is not final, Armstrong said during the July meeting.
| "Going forward at our monthly meetings we should look at our ability to maximize efficiencies," McCoy said. "And our ability to analyze areas for opportunities going forward in the future -- for financial expenses, and to see how we as a board can do that in a positive progressive way. From 2007 to 2014, those even years, we went from (a mill levy of) 22.34 to 29.51." |
According to information distributed to board members, FSCC's 2014 valuation was $90,827,206.
Hedges discussed reasons why other community colleges in Kansas have higher valuations than that of FSCC.
"If you've got a service county that's near a major city you're going to do pretty well," He said. "Because Allen County (Community College) is south of Topeka, and they (Washburn University students) drive out in droves. Washburn has an excessively high rate (of students attending ACCC)."
Armstrong said "various reports had been made that analyzed the financial health of the institution."
| "For the last four years it's basically kind of been every other year, where we are just on the fringe of not being healthy," she said. "You know, kind of that high risk zone. I know there's lots of things to consider, but that's one that the accreditation bodies, they do look at that." |
| The bulk of the discussion relating to the 2014-15 budget took place during the board's regular meeting on July 28. |
Included in the budget is money to continue deferred maintenance. While several projects have been completed this year, renovation to the Round Room in Bailey Hall has not been started. Armstrong said $150,000 has been set aside for that project, which does not include any major renovation to the room's structure.
McCoy said he is concerned about a "rescission" coming from the state-level. "I'm very concerned that the state gives us a phone call and says, 'Congratulations, we're taking five percent away,'" McCoy said. "I think you need to plan for it, and then take the appropriate action when it comes or when it doesn't."
Open records request
The Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees was asked to be more forthcoming and transparent during Monday night's regular board meeting.
During the public forum portion of the meeting, Tammy Helm, managing editor of The Fort Scott Tribune, asked trustees to release complete information pertaining to former FSCC President Clayton Tatro's agreement to end employment with the school.
| Last week the college released only a portion of the agreement, which appeared to be redacted. Helm also requested that the board release the contract Tatro was operating under while still employed with the school. Earlier this year, Tatro emailed only the salary portion of his contract. Last week Helm made an open records request on behalf of The Tribune for the release of the those documents. | |
| "You talk about transition, you talk about being actively involved as a board -- I am asking for a little openness here," Helm said. "According to the state statute(45-221) those documents are open record. "I believe the community has a perception that things have not been quite as open as they possibly could have been, or maybe should have been under the past administration. I think this is an opportunity for you guys to make a new transition here -- follow the law, it's pretty basic. | "You're a taxing entity, that's different than a private corporation or industry. Because this is a taxing entity, they are open record. Salaries are open record, contracts are open record. |
"I fully believe that had we (The Tribune) asked for Mr. Tatro's contract before his employment ended, we probably would have received that. And I'm just wondering what there is in these documents that you guys are trying to hide. I got a partial account of that agreement, but I did not receive the full agreement. So now I'm wondering, what is being hidden?
| "And I'm asking that you guys take action and ensure that I receive these documents, as the public has a right to know." |
| New board chairman Mark McCoy responded to Helm's request, saying that he would first seek legal counsel before discussing the matter further. |
| "I'm not a lawyer, and... are you a lawyer?" McCoy asked. |
Helm then said she had discussed the matter with a legal advisor from the Kansas Press Association. McCoy said he had not yet spoken to legal counsel and was "not up to speed" on the matter.
| "I'm unable to clearly answer your request for tonight," McCoy said. "I believe we should get back to anybody who asks a question. And it wold be my desire to get back to you within 72 hours. I don't know if that fills a legal requirement or not, I don't know the answer." |
| After Helm read directly from the state statute, McCoy again reiterated the need for the board to seek legal counsel. |
"Lawyers and doctors have opinions," McCoy said. "And there's another lawyer and another doctor who will give you another (or different) opinion. So I'm not specifically answering whether that lawyer (from the KPA) is the final determining factor with the statement you read. I don't know that. I know what you just read. And if I'm not mistaken that's his opinion. Is that not correct?"
| "What I read is a state statute, it's nobody's opinion," Helm said. |
Helm said she also had spoken with the board's attorney, Zack Reynolds of The Reynolds Law Firm, P.A. in Fort Scott, and that he had also denied the release of documents.
"Well... thank you for providing that to me because I did not know that," McCoy said.
| McCoy then addressed Helm's earlier comments about relating to "openness" and information being "hidden." |
"When you say 'hiding,' I have no intention of hiding anything," McCoy said.
"Trustee Jim Sather discussed the importance of transparency after Monday night's meeting.
"I think the big thing was the trust issue, whether there were legitimate concerns or not," he told The Tribune. "That's the perception. And we've got to take care of that. The transparency issues, we will definitely be working on that."
| Jason Hogue, the school's director of public relations, denied that the board's end of employment agreement with Tatro had been redacted. |
| "'Redacted,' that's where you get a whole document and then some pieces of information are left out," Hogue told The Tribune Wednesday night. "What you (The Tribune) got (were) some pieces of information. Does that makes sense? You got a piece of a document, but 'redacted' is not the right word. |
| "We (FSCC) haven't had a chance to figure out what information we're supposed to turnover yet. So we know you're supposed to get (the) compensation (portion of the end of employment agreement). And we know that's what people are most interested in. So that's why you got it first." |
Hogue said Reynolds was out of town last week, delaying FSCC's response to the release of documents request.
"We've not made a complete response to her (Helm's) public records request," Hogue said. "My position isn't that, you know -- redacted or not redacted -- the only reason to talk about it is that this (document previously released by FSCC to The Tribune) is not a complete response. It was provided because we were instructed that this was information (needing) to come out. And that we would get counsel (regarding the releasing the rest of it)."
| Hogue also denied that the school was "refusing" to release the full details of Tatro's contract. |
"We're seeking legal counsel," He said.
Editor's note: See related story regarding information that was released.
More on Monday's meeting will appear in a future edition of The Tribune.