Legislature says no to $1 million increase for the college

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Dr. Mamie Golladay made a last-minute plea on Thursday, August 10 to county lawmakers to come through with a $1 million increase in the budget for the college, but lawmakers voted unanimously not to grant that amount. Instead they voted to go with an already agreed upon three percent increase, or about $180,000.

In response, Golladay, the president of Sullivan County Community College (SCCC), said, “We can’t do it, we just can’t do it.”

During the discussion, lawmakers noted that most agencies affiliated with the county government were being asked to trim their budgets by 10 percent for the coming year, so the three-percent increase represented a real commitment to the college.

Legislator Ron Hiatt, who, with legislator Sam Wohl, went out to the college for a first-hand look last week, said, “I’m not up to the task of determining the right budget for the college… but right now we just don’t have an extra million.

Lawmakers are still unsure of the level of revenues for the coming year because they don’t know if lawmakers in Albany will allow a .25 percent increase in sales tax, which was blocked in Albany this year.

Legislator Leni Binder said that for many years the college has been neglected, and as time passes, it will be harder to bring it back up to an acceptable level. She said she supports the sales tax increase, and hopes that may provide some additional funding for agencies such as the college.

Golladay reiterated her position that this year was particularly tough, because SCCC instituted a new standard denying admission to students who have less than a 68-percent grade point average. Because of that, the school will turn away some 300 students and their tuition dollars this year. The point was made once again that the state is not meeting its share of funding for SCCC. Under state law, the state is supposed to provide 33.3 percent of the funding, but according to Golladay, last year it provided only 19 percent.

In a phone call Monday, Golliday said she would write a letter of appeal to the Sullivan County Legislature, and that no decisions about possible cuts have yet been made.