Money could but won’t be used for educational programming, paying down existing bonds, or scholarships
The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board voted 4-1 to move $2 million from the General Fund to the Capital Accumulation Fund at its September meeting. The money will be applied to capital improvement plans and deferred maintenance over the next five years.
Representative Deb McCasland asked whether the money could have been used for other purposes such as scholarships and paying down the bond. She noted that when the Board voted 3-2 to raise taxes in May 2018 the College claimed it needed the increase to provide a little over $900,000 annually in new funding. McCasland wanted to know whether the two million could also have been used to meet those expenditures?
Vice President Clint Ewell admitted that the two million dollars could be used for educational and other projects. However, he noted that the Board had approved various capital improvement projects in the spring 2018 and the College needed this money to support those projects. Ms. McCasland had voted against the budget containing a long list of capital projects in the Spring 2018.
Ewell also said the two million dollars would cover only the next two years and that the College needed the tax rate increase to fund ongoing projects.
The process used by the College to transfer the money from the General Fund to the Capital Accumulation Fund allows it to avoid certain spending limitations placed on community colleges several years ago.
An edited clip of the conversation at the Board meeting follows below. You may view the entire discussion by clicking here and going to the College Governing Board web site where the entire meeting appears on videotape.