How to understand Mesa Community College’s budget crisis
Mesa Community College entered a self-proclaimed budget crisis in 2024, with the institution now taking steps to manage and mitigate the impact a budget deficit would have on students.
On September 3, MCC President Richard Daniel acknowledged a budget crisis at MCC in a message to employees, and highlighted the importance of transparency about the severity of the situation
“As we continue our journey into the fall, I want to take a moment to provide you with important updates on our ongoing efforts to address the financial challenges facing Mesa Community College. Your engagement and understanding are crucial as we navigate these times together,” stated Daniel.
In this same post, Daniel announced a series of sessions tilted “Forward, Together Forward: Understanding the Budget Crisis, Hiring Pauses, Deficits, and How We Are Going to Move Forward.”
The public sessions were hosted by Vice President of Administrative Services, Robert Budach, who provided an explanation of the current fiscal situation on-campus.
“Put succinctly, in fiscal year 24 (last year), the general operating fund for Mesa Community College was overspent by approximately $3.5 million. To address the overspend, we need to reduce our spending in this fiscal year by the equivalent amount. The urgency and the use of the term ‘crisis’ is that these cuts need to come within our current academic year,” wrote Budach in an email to The Mesa Legend.
Budach said the college learned that 57% of their funding comes from taxpayer dollars and 19% from student tuition and fees. Budach said that as stewards of public resources, it is imperative to ensure the college operated within its means.
Budach said while it was clear this challenge was at the forefront from MCC, the Maricopa County Community College District implemented budget reductions for several years, which resulted from decreasing enrollment during the coronavirus pandemic.
When asked about when administration first became aware of the situation, Budach said in the spring 2024 semester, former interim Vice President of Administrative Services, Angela Buchele, put measures in place to minimize the deficit before the year concluded.
Budach said that through her work, new leadership were aware of the challenge upon assuming responsibilities of the budget crisis during the first week of July 2024.
The budget crisis was a result of several different factors, without a specific department or unit singularly at fault for the budget deficit, according to Budach
Budach believed it was important not to judge individual programs exclusively on the merit of their returns or expenses to MCC. Public finance across all sectors must consider the greater public good, according to Budach.
“Moving forward, budget and program managers need to operate in a manner that reduces spending down to critical program needs, in order to ensure optimal efficiency and savings across the college,” said Budach.
The first and most important step mentioned by Budach is to implement a hiring pause to review positions that are currently vacant and determine if all roles are needed. Academic Affairs teams must also review class sizes, according to Budach.
A Budget Steering Committee composed of representative stakeholders of the college was also been created in order to identify ways to ensure efficiencies that impact their finances .
“My commitment to this college is to help navigate us through this crisis and move us back to a place of growth again, which I have every reason to be confident of in the future. I am wildly optimistic about the future of Mesa Community College” stated Budach.
