Assistant News Editor
The annual budget meeting for CSU Bakersfield took place on Feb. 23 to both give an update on the status of the 2016/17 budget and discuss the budget of the 2017/18 school year.
After a brief introduction from CSUB President Horace Mitchell, Thom Davis, Vice President of Business and
Administrative Services, stepped forward to describe the source of the funds for this school year and the use of those funds.
Initially, the gross operating budget that was funded to CSUB was about $116 million, which was to be divided between appropriations, including retirement, health care and enrollment growth, as well as fees around campus, such as tuition,
Health Center fees and course fees.
The funds provided by the California Board of Trustees were distributed among the cabinet offices at CSUB, and since the previous year’s fund changes had been made, so much was given to each department.
“Our priorities went to Academic Affairs and Business and Technology,” said Davis
Since 2015/16, the Academic Affairs department increased from 42.40 percent to 42.94 percent in 2016/17, whereas the Business and Technology departments combined to bring it from 14.60 percent funding to 15.08 percent.
While the budget was split strategically among all the departments, there were still unmet priorities, including the Counseling Center and Services for Students with Disabilities.
Mitchell mentioned priorities for the next budgeted year to come, including student employment.
According to Mitchell, funding has been allocated to all cabinets to hire students on campus to give them the opportunity to join in study groups and attend office hours without being rushed for work off-campus.
The second priority is for faculty and staff development, a practice that was discontinued, but will be brought back.
Another priority for CSUB is to move temporarily funded positions to permanently funded positions, as well as adding more tenure-track faculty.
Lastly, the classroom and laboratory refreshments and renovations will be brought forward. Dorothy Donahoe Hall will be receiving some of these repairs.
“We’re doing technology refreshers on campus,” said Mitchell. “We want our classrooms to be smart classrooms.”
All of this will become possible if the state of California meets the budget proposed by the Board of Trustees. Now, only the compensation for current contracts and a portion of mandatory fees will be met, leaving the requests for Graduation Initiative 2025, compensation for new contracts, enrollment growth and academic facilities and infrastructures unmet.
The final budget will be finalized in March by the Board of Trustees, and in June by the California Legislature.
Despite cuts to CSUB’s funds, students will not have to be concerned with any current or future defunded building projects.
According to Mitchell, there is a separate budget provided for those projects, which are automatically a priority for the Board of Trustees.
Budget information can be found at csub.edu under the Quick Link titled Budget Central.
