NMC wants $8M budget next fiscal year

The Northern Marianas College wants a higher budget for fiscal year 2013, submitting an $8-million proposal to the Legislature for personnel and operations. This is separate from its $1.5 million request for the implementation of NMC’s long-delayed apprenticeship program.

Both amounts were approved by the Board of Regents, which instructed the management to transmit the request to the Executive Branch.

“For more than 30 years, NMC has played a central, critical role in the CNMI by helping residents advance academically and professionally. The budget request that we are transmitting to the Governor’s Office and the Legislature ensures that the college continues to serve in this very important capacity,” said board chair Juan T. Lizama Thursday.

He said the requested amount represents the bare bones minimum to ensure that NMC maintains the high quality of instruction and student services it provides its students. The budget request, he added, is also vital in meeting the accreditation requirements of the college.

Based on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, NMC plans to use the $8 million funding for the following areas: $7.269 million for personnel and $772,692 for “all others.”

For next fiscal year, the college proposes to have a total 156 FTEs.

The bulk of the proposed budget will go to personnel wages, amounting to $5.7 million; Retirement Fund contribution, $955,999; land grant retirement contribution, $205,507; personnel health insurance, $228,218; Medicare contribution, $82,729; and personnel insurance, $91,287.

For all others, NMC proposes to use $700,000 for utilities and $72,692 for all other expenditures.

According to NMC president Sharon Y. Hart, the proposed allocation will improve the per-student allocation of the college.

“It’s important to note that the budget we are requesting represents an average amount that our peer institutions have received in state support in terms of per student allocation,” said Hart, adding that the requested amount also ensures that NMC meets maintenance-of-effort requirements for certain federal grants.

It was earlier disclosed that NMC is severely under-funded compared to other community colleges and universities in the U.S. and other peer institutions.

As for the separate $1.5 million budget submission for the college apprenticeship program, $1 million is being eyed for personnel costs with 22 FTEs while $494,391 will go to all other expenses, including professional services, $20,000; OPA fee, $14,852; personnel training, $10,000; power, $16,500; water, $150,000; office supplies, $181,000; library books and materials, $25,300; computer system and equipment, $56,739; and office equipment, $20,000.

The college apprenticeship program was created many years ago but was not fully implemented because the Legislature failed to allocate any funds for it.