Wyoming Community College Commission requests more money for technology - Casper Star-Tribune Online

CHEYENNE – The governor’s budget request for the Wyoming Community College Commission is reasonable.

That’s what Jim Rose, executive director of the WCCC, said Friday during testimony before the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee. He hopes the Legislature will approve Gov. Matt Mead’s 2019-20 biennium budget request.

“I think the governor has a really good comprehension of the needs of the colleges, and his support has been unwavering,” Rose said.

“We know we’re sailing into some kind of uncharted water here with the economy, but he’s been a stalwart supporter in spite of the challenges he has to keep the books balanced.”

Rose and Matt Petry, deputy director and chief financial officer for the WCCC, reviewed the commission’s portion of the governor’s budget request Friday with members of the JAC.

Many of the commission’s exception requests revolve around technology. Rose said the exceptions are changes from the standard budget, which is based upon the budget from the previous biennium.

The top five exception requests total a little more than $646,000 for technology needs. Those include computing system maintenance, data services, hardware, software, IT training and consulting, and a learning management system.

Of those requests, Mead recommends approving nearly $285,000. He is not recommending the Legislature fund some of the hardware and maintenance costs or the learning management system.

And additional difference is under “hardware, software, IT training and consulting.” While the WCCC is requesting about $88,400 for that need, Mead recommends just less than $32,000.

Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, asked if the system maintenance requests were because of increased software.

Rose explained that they did change the systems they used, which has significantly improved the commission’s functionality.

Appropriations Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, asked Rose to provide information on the previous costs, why they are increasing so much and how they’ve tried to pay for the increases.

“The idea that this would be an ongoing budget that just jumps up this much automatically doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Rose said the commission staff can provide information showing why those costs escalate.

He added that he and his staff are not disputing the smaller allocation Mead is recommending for hardware, software and IT, but they feel the expenditures are necessary.

Rose explained that he believes the governor may not have been supportive of some of the training aspects.

Rep. Tom Walters, R-Casper, asked what would happen if these expenses were not approved.

Rose replied, “We would have to make some pretty serious and Draconian decisions about which are absolutely vital to try to keep as much of this operational as possible.”

The WCCC cannot refuse to pay the software providers, he said.

“We just don’t have the option of saying, ‘We’re not going to do this anymore.’ It’s a statutory obligation that we have.”

He added that staff would have to be allocated to maintain systems once maintenance agreements ran out.

“We would try to keep going, but it would be a serious impediment to our ability to function at the level that we know we need to,” Rose said.

The remaining two exception requests from the WCCC are: money for the Wyoming Investment in Nursing (WyIN) Program and restoration of the biennialized FY18 legislative reduction.

The governor’s recommended budget shows that he and the WCCC recommend the Legislature provide $835,000 to the WyIN Program. It provides tuition reimbursement for nurses who agree to work in Wyoming after they graduate.

Nicholas asked Rose to provide current data on how well the program works to help the Legislature decide if the cost is worthwhile.

Mead did not recommend the restoration of the legislative reduction, however.

“I understand why the governor wants to sustain the cuts that have already been implemented. I mean, you can’t go back to the old budget because we got a little better CREG (Consensus Revenue Estimating Group) report,” Rose said.

“We’re sustaining the cuts at this level, but we know it may not be enough to cover the bills by the time we reach the end of fiscal year 2020.”

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