Procedure 6.2.1.1 - Budget Development and Planning

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The budget process at Montgomery Community College is designed to be clear and concise, providing opportunities for broad input while understanding the limitations of categorical funding. This is because many important elements of the budget, its overall size, the annual rate of employee compensation, and the nature of the employee benefit package are determined externally. In large part, the Montgomery budget process is closely linked to the budgets allocated for the College by the North Carolina State Legislature and the Montgomery County Commissioners.

In its budgetary process, the College has at its discretion the allocation of equipment money, funds for supplies, marketing, travel, etc.; and new positions in times of institutional growth. To make allocations in those three areas, the College utilizes a bottom-up process in which requests are generated by faculty members, staff members, divisions, and offices. Those requests are forwarded to chairs and directors. The chairs and directors discuss these requests at length with the Vice Presidents or supervisors, who must prioritize them into final recommendations that are presented to the President.

This determines how allocations shall be made campus wide, keeping in mind the College’s mission statement and the goal statements that support the mission. The Vice Presidents and Directors then make recommendations to the College President. The President responds to those recommendations, makes appropriate decisions, and makes them part of the College’s official budget, which is then presented to the College’s Board of Trustees for approval at its August meeting (or at the first Board meeting following the budget action of the North Carolina Legislature).

The development of the College’s budget is a cyclical and ongoing process. In order to develop budgets, it is important that all faculty and staff have input into the process.

1. A form for listing budget requests (straw budgets) shall be distributed to all department/division directors. Upon completion, this form shall be submitted to the respective Vice President who shall be responsible for developing the division’s budget.
2. The division budget is submitted to the Vice President of Administrative Services, who coordinates the budgeting process and is responsible for developing the preliminary institutional budget and reviewing it with the Executive Committee, consisting of the President and Vice Presidents.
3. The preliminary budget is re-evaluated by the Executive Committee upon receipt of the allocations from the county and the state for the upcoming fiscal year.
4. The completed budget is presented to the Board of Trustees Finance Committee for approval and recommendation to the full Board of Trustees no later than the September Board meeting unless the College from the North Carolina Community College System has not received the budget allocations.
5. Copies of the approved budget document are sent to the County Commissioners, the County Manager and the North Carolina Community College System.
6. Over the course of the year the budget is revised in keeping with state regulations to meet changes dictated by the needs of the College in the ongoing operation.