Sonoma State University

February 20, 2020 Minutes

Minutes

PRESIDENT’S BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE

February 20th, 2020

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Lisa Vollendorf Provost, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs; Chair Joyce Lopes Vice President of Administration and Finance; Vice-Chair

Ian Hannah Proxy for Mario Perez, Vice President of University Advancement

Laura Watt Chair of the Faculty; GEP Department

Melinda Milligan Vice-Chair of the Faculty; Sociology Department

Laura Lupei Senior Director for University Budget and Planning, A&F Elisabeth Kettmann Staff Representative, Biology Department

Daniel Yoeono President, Associated Students

Arden Childers Vice President of Finance, Associated Students

 

 

STAFF PRESENT:

Hayley Avery Budget Manager, Administration and Finance

 

 

GUESTS PRESENT:

Kara Rabbitt ACE Fellow, William Paterson University

Anna Reynolds-Smith Director, Administrative and Financial Planning, Student Affairs Katie Robinson Budget Director, Administration and Finance

 

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Gregory Sawyer Vice President for Student Affairs

Hollis Robbins Dean, School of Arts and Humanities

Erma Jean Sims CFA Representative; Literacy Studies & Elementary Ed. Jerlena Griffin-Desta Chief of Staff and AVP for Strategic Initiatives and Diversity Sean Place Chair of APARC; Biology Department

Elias Lopez AVP for Academic Resources, Academic Affairs

 

 

AGENDA

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME
  2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA AND MINUTES: September 19th, 2019
  3. ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER
  4. CAMPUS BUDGET UPDATE & JANUARY GOVERNOR’S BUDGET
  5. ALL FUNDS BUDGET: CAPS & Health Center
  6. FORUM FEEDBACK

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME

CFO and Vice President of Administration and Finance, Joyce Lopes, welcomed the committee and began the meeting at 8:30 am.

 

  1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA AND MINUTES

Lopes introduced the agenda and asked if there were any additions. Hearing none, Lopes requested a motion to approve the minutes of the September 19th meeting. Minutes were approved unanimously.

  1. ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

Ian Hannah announced he is was attendance as a proxy for Mario Lopez, Vice President for University Advancement.

 

  1. CAMPUS BUDGET UPDATE & JANUARY GOVERNOR’S BUDGET

(Please see the February 20th agenda packet for related documents)

 

Laura Lupei presented the campus budget update and the January Governor’s budget. To begin Lupei reviewed the budget timeline, which outlined the budget process from December to June. This is the second year the University has been operating within this timeline. In December, the Cabinet set planning considerations for the 20/21 fiscal year. Then the Budget Call was sent out to the major budget units in January with a completion date in March. In April, results from the Budget Call are reported out to Cabinet and PBAC then Cabinet approves the 20/21 budget in May with a finalized budget in June. The strategic planning process is also included in the timeline and units will be setting tactics in line with their budget planning for 20/21.

 

Lupei then reviewed the details of the budget planning considerations for 20/21. The University has been in an enrollment decline since 16/17 and the declining enrollment resulted in a reduction in revenue to the University. Data shown to the committee projects the University will drop 486 heads in the 19/20 year, equaling approximately $2.9M in revenue. This revenue shortfall is being managed with one-time funds for the 19/20 year but will need to be addressed in the base for future years. In the 20/21 year, it is projected the University will drop an additional 122 heads, equaling an added $700K in lost revenue.

Over the two years, there will be a projected total loss of $3.6M in revenue. For 20/21 budget planning, Cabinet has approved a 3% base reduction to the campus budget. The planning considerations from Cabinet, which will be incorporated to the budget call 20/21 budget planning include: units will plan for their share of the 3% campus budget reduction; units will be able to re-allocate funds between budget categories; and units will be asked to describe how their budget plans support strategic priorities. Cabinet outlined additional considerations they would like all units to incorporate into their budget planning for the upcoming year, these considerations were, strategic enrollment management, emergency response, revenue diversification, and deferred maintenance. The 3% reduction to the campus budget will be split proportionately across all divisions excluding the University-Wide division. University Wide's share of the reduction will be distributed out to the rest of the divisions since the costs in University-Wide are mandatory and may not be reduced. The 3% campus budget reduction will be a base reduction, but to aid in the planning process units can utilize onetime funding to cover the reduction in the 20/21 year with a goal for the campus to have all base reductions taken by fiscal year 21/22.

 

Lupei then presented the January Governor’s budget. The CSU General Fund budget request for the 20/21 year was $563.8M and the Governor’s proposal for the CSU was $199M. The Governor's proposal as it currently is, will not be enough to cover mandatory costs and salary and benefits increases for the next year. The next steps in the budget planning process are to wait for the Chancellor’s Office to release their initial memo in April on how the Governor’s budget proposal affects the campuses.

  1. ALL FUNDS BUDGET: CAPS & Health Center

(Please see the February 20th agenda packet for related documents)

 

Lupei and Katie Robinson from the University Budget & Planning Office presented the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Student Health Center (SHC) funds as a part of the all funds budget presentation series. Lupei began by showing all the budgeted revenue sources for the University. Both SHC and CAPS funds are under the category of campus-based fees and are classified as self-support funds. Lupei reviewed the same definitions and policies as in the September 19th presentation to refresh the committee’s memory on the complexities of the guidelines for these funds. CAPS and the SHC as campus-based fees are classified as category II fees. These fees are campus mandatory fees, which are required to attend the university but may vary across campuses. At SSU, all of the campus-based fees are subject to increase each year based on the Bay Area Consumer Price Index (CPI).

 

Robinson then presented detailed financial information about each fee and began with the Student Health Center. The SHC fee is $154 per semester for 19/20. This fee supports the availability of student access to basic health services. Examples of these services include outpatient care for illness and injury, health maintenance and preventative services, first aid, pharmacy, lab, x-ray services, health education, campus public health services, medical disaster, and disease outbreak response. Robinson then reviewed historical and current budgets for the SHC. For 19/20 the SHC budget is about $3M. Revenue is mainly earned from the campus-based fee with minimal revenue from other sources. The main expenses include compensation, operating expenses, and cost recovery. The Student Health Center also has a Facilities Fee that is a part of the University's campus-based fee category as well and is $20 per semester. The Facilities Fee supports the construction and maintenance of the Student Health Center facility. The SHC has a reserves goal of $3.7M and, as of 18/19, the reserve level is funded at $5.1M. The SHC is planning to utilize reserves for an upcoming large facility renovation.

 

Robinson next reviewed the Counseling and Psychological Services financial information. The CAPS fee is currently $61 a semester for the 19/20 year. The fee funds basic mental health services such as counseling/psychotherapy, suicide, and personal violence services, emergency/crisis services, outreach, and referral resources. The current 2019/2020 budget is $1.2M with the majority of the revenue collected from the campus-based fee. The main expenses for CAPS consist of compensation, operating expenses, and cost recovery. The reserve goal for CAPS is $450K and the current reserve level is $644K. The CAPS program is utilizing reserve funding to hire more counselors while a long-term staffing plan developed.

 

  1. FORUM FEEDBACK

(Please see the February 20th agenda packet for related documents)

 

The committee reviewed the Fall 2019 Budget & Planning Forum feedback. They were all encouraged by the feedback and thought it was helpful to have more specific questions that helped guide people’s comments during the roundtable discussions. The feedback suggested that people would like more information about the strategic enrollment management (SEM) plan as well as potential causes for the current enrollment decline. Lopes then shared ideas for the Spring forum, which included more information on the SEM plan, the state budget update, and specific Division’s strategies for reduction planning.

Vollendorf adjourned the meeting at 9:33 am. Minutes prepared by Hayley Avery.