Hart exempted from NMC austerity measures

Dr. Sharon Hart, who will lead the Northern Marianas College in the next two years, will receive a full $80,000 annual salary and benefits package despite the newly enforced austerity measures at the college.

Board of Regents chair Juan Lizama affirmed this Friday, saying the new president is exempted from the austerity measures.

This Friday, all of NMC’s employees will join other government personnel in observing “austerity Fridays”—a one-day government shutdown—as a result of budget constraints and declining government revenues. This translates to an eight-hour reduction in employee’s work hours, from 80 hours biweekly to 72 hours biweekly. The 10-percent salary cut will take effect July 15 until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

NMC employs about 200 personnel, including instructors, non-instructional faculty, staff and administrators.

According to Hart, the financial situation being experienced in the CNMI, and the college in particular, is not unique. She pointed out that many other universities and colleges are experiencing the same problem. However, she vowed to improve the college’s financial resources by tapping other funding sources such as federal grants.

NMC has two funding sources for its personnel and operation: local appropriation from the government and the tuition and fees it collects from enrollees.

NMC was budgeted for $4.4 million in fiscal year 2011. This was cut to $4.1 million and, effective April 1, its projected monthly allotment for personnel cost and operation was $315,593. Based on the adjusted allocation, NMC only has $1.8 million left until the end of the fiscal year in September.

After Friday’s press briefing, board chair Juan Lizama expressed relief that a new president is now in place, following the “long journey” they took to find a qualified chief executive officer for the college.

He lauded the hard work of interim president Lorraine T. Cabrera, who went back to being the director of the Adult Basic Education program last Monday.

Lizama is confident that, with Hart’s expertise and impressive experience, the college will soon be moving forward to reaffirm its full accreditation with the Accrediting Commission on Community and Junior Colleges.

He vowed to work collaboratively with the new president.

Hart, during the press briefing, vowed to move NMC out of severe accreditation status in the first year of her presidency.

She also vowed to practice an “open-door” policy when it comes to information that needs to be disseminated to the community.

Both Hart and Lizama assured that “accurate and appropriate” information will be disclosed to the media and the public.

But they appealed for understanding that there are certain information, especially relating to accreditation issues, that cannot be disseminated, pursuant to the confidentiality rule of the accrediting commission.