SUNY Orange administrators proposed a voluntary early retirement program to county legislators on March 18 to help patch a potential $2 million hole in the upcoming college budget.
If the program worked as planned, which would mean 15 or so employees take the separation packages, it could generate over $1 million in savings during its first year, according to Paul Martland, vice president of Administration and Finance at SUNY Orange.
“None of us want to have a reduction in force,” Mr. Martland said at the legislative meeting, noting the program came up as one of the best routes forward following collaborative negotiations among key stakeholders, including leaders of two major unions representing college employees.
A preliminary survey among college employees had indicated that 30 or so of them were interested in an early retirement incentive package, according to Mr. Martland.
The college has about 360 full-time and 460 part-time employees during the current school year.
“It is our hope that we are not going to need to involuntarily separate anybody if this goes through,” Mr. Martland said before cautioning legislators that future layoffs might still happen as the college faced a multi-year deficit forecast.
According to an audited report last June, the community college estimated an annual operating loss between $1 million and $2 million leading up to the 2027–28 school year.
Flat State Aid
Of the $63 million college budget passed last year, $12.7 million comes from state aid—an amount that has stayed flat for the past three years.In contrast, student tuition and county support—the other two main legs supporting the college operations—went up last year: college tuition increased by 2 percent, and county contributions jumped by 6 percent, with each source contributing around $20 million.
“You got 30 entities called community colleges that have faculty expertise, existing infrastructure, the know-how, and the will to amp up your New York workforce; we have got associate degrees, certificates, and certifications that can put New Yorkers to work,” Ms. Young said at the legislative meeting.
“That was what we were selling [to the state government],” she added.
At the state level, the Board of New York Community College Trustees is advocating for $97 million in additional state aid this year.
As the current state aid calculation hinges on the number of credits, another way to ramp up state share is to drive up enrollment, according to third-party accounting professionals who reviewed the last college budget at the request of the county legislature.
SUNY Orange has increased its fall enrollment at a rate beyond expectations for two years straight, reaching nearly 4,000 students last September, though the promising figures still fall short of pre-pandemic levels.
What’s Next
The college’s early retirement incentive plan passed three county legislative committees on March 18 and likely awaits a county legislature vote in early April.The $1 million cost of the program—participants expect a buyout close to half of their current salaries—will be covered by this year’s budget.
“After the legislative approval, we won’t give the final go-ahead until we know who are the people that want to do it, and then we can do a more complete financial analysis just to make sure our assumptions hold up to the test of math,” Mr. Martland said.
For the current school year, the college forecasts a $2 million operating loss, which is planned to be covered with money from the fund balance—a strategy likely to be repeated in the coming years had the state aid continued to remain flat.
After filling this year’s hole, its fund balance is projected to be around $6 million.
Student tuition is likely to go up again for the next school year to fill the budget gap, according to Mr. Martland.
College administrators will come up with a budget proposal in May, which will be reviewed by auditors around June and put up for a county legislature vote in early August.
SUNY Orange runs on a fiscal calendar from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 of the following year.
