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.