[Editor’s Note: Get all the info in the unabridged 2011-2012 Employee Budget PowerPoint. Also, look for more resources on the Office for Finance website.]
Monday’s budget meeting began with Dr. Sasser recognizing Ginger Gibson as the College’s version of Warren Buffet. She’s done a great job managing the college’s finances despite Florida’s budget blues. Way to go, Ginger!
Announcements
Convocation is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 19 in the Fine Arts Hall.
Congrats to James Albury on being selected as co-host of “Star Gazer,” an internationally distributed PBS astronomy show.
Kudos to Vilma Fuentes and David Price on the success of the college’s Model UN team at a recent competition in New York.
The college is going to begin offering a BS in Nursing in Fall B. Other BAS programs under consideration are a BAS in Public Safety/Public Service; Systems and Organizational Management; and Industrial Biotechnology. Also coming: an expansion of the Institute for Public Safety and the Blount Center.
Big-picture stats
Santa Fe is increasing tuition 10.40 percent for 2011-2012. (The state has given permission to increase it up to 13.55 percent.) This amounts to a $216.60 increase for a 30-credit year. Last year’s tuition was $2,680. This year, it’s $2,951. SF’s tuition is still cheaper than the nationwide community college average, Florida’s state-wide average, and of course, it’s much lower than at a university. This year’s budget of $73,515,985 is funded 49.3 percent by tuition and 46.2 percent by the state, with 4.5 percent provided by “other.”
Employee compensation and benefits
Dr. Sasser made the point that if we don’t offer competitive salaries, we can’t attract or retain the best faculty and staff, which directly impacts our students. He recommended two step increases added to all full-time employees’ base salary plus a 2.5 percent cost of living raise (COLA) to the Board in keeping with his long-term commitment to increasing salaries for SF employees. For examples of position raise calculations by employmnet classification, please see the presentation.
The college is continuing to pay 100 percent of employee health insurance premiums, which currently cost more than $5,800/year per person. In addition, employees will continue to receive all the other benefits they are accustomed to.
Adjunct pay is rising from $1,953 per 3-credit-hour class to $2,001. Part-time hourly appointments may receive up to a 2.5 percent COLA effective with their fall appointments.
There are many changes to the Florida Retirement System. Please review the employee presentation and FRS website for further information.
Staff and faculty to ride RTS for free with SF ID
And lastly, beginning July 1, any SF staff or faculty member can ride any RTS bus for free, simply by showing your ID to the driver. The college is paying a fee to RTS for each employee to ride; this is not connected with the recent transportation fee legislation.
Our students will have unlimited access to RTS buses at the start of fall semester. That is also when RTS will add new bus routes and more buses on existing routes to campus.
As for the route changes, here’s an excerpt from a May 26 Gainesville Sun article by Jackie Alexander:
“RTS spokesman Chip Skinner said it will provide an additional 20,000 hours of service to Santa Fe. New routes could include Route 39 from Santa Fe to the airport, Route 62 from The Oaks Mall to Lexington Crossing apartments, Route 76 from Tower 24 to The Oaks Mall and Route 27 to the downtown Santa Fe campus.
” ‘We got the locations of where the students lived, and a lot of them lived in the Lexington Crossing area,’ Skinner said.
” Two of the existing routes will add an additional bus, and each route will run until 11 p.m. for students in evening classes, Skinner said. The college and RTS will meet periodically to determine any changes precipitated by ridership. ‘We’ll be treating them just like we do the UF students currently,’ he said.”
Skinner said yesterday via phone that RTS should announce the final routes, and start sending us publicity materials, on July 11.
SF Staff must have the current SF ID card to take advantage of the new free RTS ridership that begins July 1. That means their ID should look like the card in the photo here.
Faculty and staff with old IDs should bring their old SF ID card to the Center for Student Leadership & Activities (first Floor, S Building) to get a new SF ID card made. Hours are Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. and Fridayy, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. There is no cost to the employee for this card.
RTS website