COUNTYWIDE : College District to Cut $4.6 Million

Because of state funding cuts, Ventura County Community College District officials must trim next year’s budget by $4.6 million, or about 7.5%, Chancellor Barbara A. Derryberry said Tuesday.

In a presentation to the college district board, Derryberry said district officials are looking at 34 different ways of making the cuts.

Among the options are reducing the number of class offerings, not filling employee positions and laying off employees, Tom Kimberling, vice chancellor for administrative services, had said earlier Tuesday.

“It’s difficult to cut $4.6 million without invoking some kind of layoffs,” he said.

He said district officials met last week to discuss the cuts and how they might be made. The district’s three colleges have been asked to submit individual reduction plans by the end of the month.

Kimberling said the cuts break down this way: $1.6 million at Moorpark College, $850,000 at Oxnard College, $1.8 million at Ventura College and $380,000 at district headquarters in Ventura.

“Overall, I think that the cuts will be felt pretty severely in terms of reductions in course offerings,” he said. But enrollment at the three colleges is up--close to a total of 30,000 now--and any drop in enrollment because of reduced class offerings could be absorbed.

He said district officials have been advised to save whatever funds they can from the current $64-million budget to help offset expected shortfalls in the upcoming budget. The new budget must be adopted before June 30.

A district committee came up with the cost-cutting options, Kimberling said. One way is to close the facilities one day a week during the summer and operate a four-day, 40-hour week.