NIC board: No tax or in-county tuition increase

COEUR d'ALENE — North Idaho College's initial budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes no additional property taxes or tuition increases for in-county students.

A first reading of the 2017 budget, along with a discussion on trustee zones, took place during Wednesday's regular meeting of the NIC Board of Trustees. The $45.4 million proposed budget reflects a 2.5 percent increase from the 2016 budget, and includes increased funding from the state and tax revenue from new property in Kootenai County.

"We're fortunate that we've had some really great people working on the budget for us," said Trustee Christie Wood. "The internal optimization piece that's been done on campus to really look at programs and viability — anywhere that we can cut areas that are unnecessary — all that work has been done over the past year and has set us up in a good position."

Out-of-county students will see an additional $5 per credit in tuition cost if the budget passes. The increase, according to Wood, is part of a long-standing effort by the board to bring out-of-county tuition in line with what in-county students and taxpayers are paying.

According to budget projections, the out-of-county tuition increase could generate more than $130,000 in additional revenue for the college.

Trustee Todd Banducci told The Press he hopes the final budget will include a pay increase for adjunct and part-time faculty like he asked for last year.

"We need to be fair and equitable to them and make them feel like they're being treated equally," he said, adding that he requested further information on funding possibilities to accommodate the raises.

Wood said the board is appreciative of the increased funding the college will receive from the state, adding, "We are in a good position to keep the institution moving forward.”

A second reading of the budget will be held during the board's regular meeting in May. Wood said the board requested additional information during its meeting, which will be provided before making a decision on the budget.

"There will still be plenty of discussion at the second meeting," Wood said. "But we are in a position where it is a fairly non-controversial budget, which is kind of nice."

Wood said during Wednesday’s board meeting, representatives for the college's students and faculty spoke to the trustees about the board’s recent decision regarding the creation of trustee zones. New legislation calling for community college trustee zones was passed by lawmakers in Boise earlier this year.

The student representative, according to Wood, told the board the Associated Students of North Idaho College had discussed the issue at a recent meeting, and came to the conclusion it was important to advocate for revisiting the topic.

"The faculty representative read a resolution to the board basically imploring us to do the same thing — revisit this and help them believe that we are ethical as we run this institution," Wood said.

Both statements echoed Wood's position on how the zones were established during a special meeting on April 18. Wood, who was vocal in her opposition to the bill when it was proposed, told The Press she doesn't believe "the integrity of the process was followed."

The board decided to create the new zones based on where the sitting trustees live.

"To me it was gerrymandering and it didn't meet what the intent of the legislation was," Wood said.

The topic came up again later in the board meeting, and Wood said she asked Chairman Ken Howard to hold another special meeting of the board to address the issues because of additional information received by college officials about the districts.

"We learned that we cannot change these zones after the election. We are unable to do anything with these zones until a new census comes out," she said.

Furthermore, Wood said the College of Southern Idaho and the College of Western Idaho, both of which have completed the zoning process, had individuals create zoning maps without taking into consideration where their trustees currently reside. As a result of the process, Wood said one of the trustees at the College of Western Idaho will no longer be qualified to hold their trustee position.

"The trustees with a conflict in their discussions recused themselves — our trustees didn't do that," Wood added.

According to Wood, the conversation "didn't go over very well," due in large part to a split in opinion on how to proceed. Wood said she and Trustee Judy Meyer have advocated for creating zones without taking into consideration where trustees currently live.

"It got a little uncomfortable because trustees that are in the zones up for debate can sometimes feel as though it's personal, when for me it's about the integrity of the process," Wood said.

Banducci, who could lose his seat if the zones were created without taking residences into consideration, and Vice Chair Ron Nilson, are in favor of keeping the zones as established in the special meeting.

"I thought we were done with the districting and I'm disappointed that people felt the need to re-hash this out again," Banducci said. "I just don't think we need to spend any more time on it."

A special meeting, tentatively scheduled for the week of May 9, was called as a result of the discussion.

"It isn't a comfortable discussion for any of us because a trustee could lose their position," Wood said. "Maybe we will arrive at the same decision, maybe we won't. But hopefully the integrity of the process will be much different."