Thousands gathered outside the Capitol to protest as Gov. Scott Walker gave his biennium budget address on Tuesday, March 1.  At Madison Area Technical College’s Truax campus, hundreds more gathered around televisions waiting to learn how deep the governor’s cuts would be.

Among them was college president Dr. Bettsey Barhorst. She expressed deep concern over the proposed budget, stating that the college already couldn’t afford to offer enough sections of summer school to meet the student demand.

“We don’t know what we can cut,” Barhorst said. “Most of our budget, 80 percent of it, is our salary and benefits.”

Walker’s budget shrinks spending by $4.2 billion or about 6.7 percent. In particular, the budget reduces aid to public schools and local governments by more than $1.25 billion. As such, Madison College will lose $5 million in state aid.  Although this is only a portion of the total $148 million budget, its affects will be inflated by increased enrollment, expansion plans and restrictions to property tax levies.

“We haven’t run all of the numbers for inflationary costs, but we could be between 9 and 11 million dollars short for next year,” said Vice President of Infrastructure Rodger Price. “It’s a huge effect, and again, the devil will be in the details.”

The governor’s budget freezes property tax levies at their current level.  This means that Madison College cannot raise taxes in attempts to offset the cuts to state funding.

Local property tax levies make up over 60 percent of the college’s total budget.  This source of funding was intended to cover increased operational costs incurred during the college’s planned expansion for the next several years.

“We can’t increase any additional money (from taxes.) So no increase allowed for any inflation, any negotiated contract for increases in salaries, any kind of increase in utilities or you know books or supplies or materials,” Price said.

Walker’s contention is that the Budget Repair Bill, now stalled in the senate, must be passed in order to offset those cuts because the bill gives schools and local government’s savings through its wage and benefit concessions.

“As alluded to in the governor’s budget, we’re supposed to be able to make up more than $5 million. The fact of the matter is that we can’t,” Price said.

The wage and benefit concessions imply increased employee contributions to health care and pensions.  As of right now the college primarily covers these expenses.  Price said the problem is the health care plans provided through Madison College are relatively inexpensive compared to the state plans for the same type of coverage.

For this reason, Price said Walker’s “one size fit all solution” does not compensate for the cuts in state funding for Madison College.  To gain more substantial savings in this way, the college would have to overhaul how it does insurance.

Another part of the problem stems from the union contracts currently in place, which cover around 90 percent of full-time employees.  The contracts, which remain in effect until 2013, include a clause mandating the continued payment of the full retirement costs as well as salary increases. These contracts cannot be broken, and limit the college’s potential savings in those areas.

“Our best estimate is that we would save a million dollars because of our administrative staff and our part-time faculty who are not currently under contract,” Price said.

Those faculty members not under contract could be asked to contribute more to their benefit packages. This could impact their take-home salary by around 5 percent.

In hopes of avoiding some of the possible cuts, the part-time faculty union ratified its contract on Saturday, March 5.  The contract included a two percent increase in salary for every year up to 13 that the faculty member works at the college.

Although, the administration had expressed its support of this same contract in the past, it is unclear whether or not they will ratify the contract under current circumstances. If the Budget Repair Bill passes before the contract is signed, the part-time faculty will be without contract and the salary increases that accompany it.

“Everything has changed in the last month with the Budget Repair Bill.  If we don’t get the contract in place then everything is off the table,” explained Bob Curry, vice president of the part-time faculty union. “It never surprises me if they find a way to screw us.”

With limited alternatives to cover increasing operational costs, the faculty won’t be the only ones feeling the squeeze.  The state board will be forced to consider the college’s third source of income: tuition.

“I think it’s inevitable that they will be raising tuition,” Price said. “To what degree, I’m not sure.”

In the coming weeks the college will be looking at its core operations and assessing its options for reducing costs. According to Price it is too early to speculate the impact this budget could have on enrollment, staffing, and building expansion projects.

“We will have to goal of involving as many people as possible in that discussion and that process,” Price said. “We also have the goal of keeping it as far away from the classroom as we possibly can.”

Although they have begun to look at options for damage control, Price says the college will not give up the fight.  It is his hope that some legislators will hear the college’s story and move to amend the budget and the repair bill.

“We’re going to keep lobbying as best we can.” Price said. “If we take the full impact of this, it sets us back a long ways.”