Budget Planning Policy

 

Policy Number:

OPER_0008

Policy Statement:

Garden City Community College develops an Annual Institutional Budget based on measurements of operational and academic performance, projections of enrollment and finances, and the strategic goals and objectives defined in its strategic plan.

Procedures:

The Chief Financial Officer oversees the Budget Planning Process for the General Fund and the Post- secondary Technical Education (PTE) Fund. Individual departments complete the annual Department Planning document, including accomplishments, short-term goals, long-term goals, and resource requests. Department Planning documents are forwarded to the Vice Presidents as Budget Division Leaders who will hold a meeting with all Department heads to discuss resource requests. Budget Division Leaders then aggregate requests and consider them in light of the Strategic Plan Pillars, Objectives, and Initiatives. College Council aggregates budget requests from Student Services, Administrative Services, and Instructional Services, considering requests in light of the Strategic Plan. College Council forwards a completed list of resource requests to Cabinet for final budget assembly. College Council also tracks and reviews internal compliance with the policy and process provisions of the Budget Policy.

The Annual Institutional Budget is reviewed by the President, who presents the Budget along with his or her recommendations to the Board of Trustees to approve or return with suggestions for modification.

A.      Goals of Budgeting Process

• To provide a reasonable, broadly participatory process leading to the development of a budget for the coming fiscal
• To make wise decisions about the activities and initiatives on which the College will expend limited resources, and ensure these activities and initiatives are aligned with the Strategic Plan and the overall direction of the
• To require all academic and operational departments to plan activities and initiatives for the coming year and provide budgetary estimations that enable effective
• To require departments to prioritize requests for new/additional funding and describe the desired outcomes related to the request (in terms of qualitative or quantitative improvements)
• To provide to the President a budget for their review and approval prior to the springboard meeting.
• To provide a mechanism for generating specific department directions based on final budget approval.

B.      General Budget Guidelines:

• Budget for unforeseen expenses for instruction are included in both the General Fund and the PTE Fund.
• The General Fund Budget includes a reserve contingency account dedicated to be used for emergencies or unanticipated
• The Board of Trustees approves the General Fund and PTE Fund working budgets with a “not to exceed”
• Funds budgeted to a department that are unexpended at the end of the fiscal year do not carry forward to the department’s budget for the next year. The funds are absorbed into a “cash reserve ”

Procedures

 

A.     Budget Planning Timeline

Deadline	Activity	Responsibility
March 1	Year-to-date budget expenditures and prior year budget to Department Budget Leaders.	CFO
March 15	Department Budget Plans for coming fiscal year due to the Budgetary Division Leader.	All Department Leaders
April 15	Division Budget Plans submitted to College Council	All Budgetary Division Leaders
May 15	College and Strategic Planning Committee submits recommended resource allocations to President’s Cabinet.	College Council
July	Revision and finalization of Budget Plan.	President’s Cabinet
July BOT meeting	Complete Budget Plan submitted to the Board.	President
September BOT Meeting	Public budget hearing Approval of the Budget Plan (for the coming fiscal year beginning July 1)	Board of Trustees
October	Communication to all departments informing of their budget for the coming fiscal year. Operational planning for implementation of Operational Plan (assignment of responsibilities, adjustment of budgets, other required activities)	Chief Financial Officer and Designees

 

B.     Initial Information Sharing

• At the beginning of the process, the Chief Financial Officer will share with College Council at least the following information:
  • Revenue projections (using next year’s tuition and fees with different enrollment scenarios)
  • The previous and current year’s budgets (planned and actual revenues and expenditures).
  • Likely emergencies and inescapable challenges and expenditures (e.g., broken pipe cleanup, rise in utility rates).
  • Existing commitments and cost projections (previously planned and approved development, ongoing contracts and rents, installments on multi-year purchases, )
  • Planned external mandates and cost projections (accreditation,, legal fees)
  • Vacant faculty or staff positions, planned retirements, planned additions

C. Budgeting Process Kickoff

1. College Council initiates the annual budgeting process in February with directive communications to each department identifying institutional planning priorities and expected budgetary limitations that departments should consider in the budget planning process.
2. This request from College Council will include summary information about factors influencing the overall budget, including at least:
   1. Expected income from anticipated enrollment and the coming year tuition levels.
   2. Income from other sources (gifts, grants, rents, royalties, etc.).
   3. Fixed or required expenditures that might limit the resources available for new initiatives.
   4. A comparison of overall projections with current and prior year revenues and expenses, and an estimation of overall net increase or decrease for the coming year.

D. Budgetary Communications

• Members of the Budget Committee will be expected to maintain strict confidentiality about the information provided to them and about their discussions and deliberations.
• Inquiries to the Budget Committee shall directed only to the Chief Financial Officer.
• The Budget Committee may provide additional guidance to a department requesting assistance on approval of the Chief Financial Officer.
• Distribution of the Proposed Annual Institutional Budget is limited to the Divisional Leaders and the President prior to the BOT approval.

E. Department Plan Development

• Initial development is the responsibility of Department Budget Leader,
• The Department Budget Leader is encouraged to collect suggestions and input from employees within the department and may form a committee if so desired. Final approval and submission of the Department Budget is the sole responsibility of the Department Budget Leader.
• All Department Budgets are due to their respective Budgetary Division Leaders in March.

F. Division Plan Development

• Development is the responsibility of Budgetary Division Leader
• The Division Plan format is the same as for Department Plans (see Appendix C).
• The Division plan should draw upon and integrate the Department Plans, identifying common needs and synergies, but should also consider the following information sources best evaluated at the Divisional level to recommend priorities for institutional improvement:
  • Department Plan proposals
  • Department/Program reviews
  • Internal data
  • Enrollment trends
  • Student demographics
  • Alignment with strategic plan
  • Assessment of consequences of underfunding
• The final Division Plan may choose to approve, reject, combine or distinguish elements of the component

G. Budget Plan Development

• Development of the College Budget proposal is the responsibility of College
• The College Budget Proposal consists of two documents:
  • The College Plan integrating the planning priorities and proposed initiatives of the Division plans, for review and modification in collaboration with the Strategic Planning
  • A line item Budget with expenditures by cost center.
• The College Plan should draw upon and integrate the Department Plans, identifying common needs and synergies, but should also consider broader concerns and information sources best evaluated at the Institutional level to recommend priorities for institutional improvement. These include:
  • Assumptions about changes in revenue and expense
  • KBOR performance agreements and indicators
  • Budget performance analysis
  • Non-instructional program reviews
  • Student organization needs
  • Input from cross-functional committees
    • Assessment Committee
    • Curriculum and General Education Committee
    • Student Success Committee
    • Strategic Enrollment Management
  • Input from external groups
    • Technical Advisory boards
    • Local industry
    • President's Golden Guild
    • Outreach coordinators and local school district officials
    • Finney County Economic Development and GC Chamber of Commerce
  • Input from other assessment tools
    • CCSSE
    • Noel-Levitz
    • National Community College Benchmark Project
    • IPEDS
    • Board ENDS (Written Communication, Oral Communication and Critical Thinking)
    • Internal and External Surveys

 

H. College Plan Implementation

The President’s Council assigns the specific tasks and responsibilities necessary to implement the College Plan.

The College Plan is designed to translate broad strategic goals and objectives to specific activities to be engaged in by individual departments. These directives are provided using the same Planning Template (Appendix B) used by Departments and Divisions to submit their original Plans, which enables clear tracking and reporting of progress with an understanding of required metrics and benchmarks.

Policy History:

June 25, 2026: Revised to include policy number

June 24, 2025: Revised for Accessibility Format

January 25, 2023: Reviewed

March 23, 2022: Reviewed

February 25, 2021: Revised