Fiscal Year and Budgeting Policy

Budgets of all institutions within the North Carolina Community College System have basic elements of composition and are subject to statutory guidelines which place the freedom of budgetary management on a rather precise scale of operation. Within the guidelines alluded to, the management of the budget is as follows: 

State Budget 

Generation of State Budget Revenues - Funds are provided by the state for current operating expenditures which fund administrative and instructional salaries, and related other expenses such as travel, supplies, dues, repairs to equipment, subscriptions and other expenses incurred by administrative or instructional programs. Capital funds are also provided for by the State for equipment and books. Funds for both current operating and capital, are determined by formula and based upon the previous year's average of fall, and spring curriculum enrollments and the previous year’s average of fall, spring, and summer continuing education (Division of Corporate and Community Education) enrollment.  If enrollment has not remained the same or increased, then a rolling 2-year average is used from the prior 2 years. Special allotments are provided for and funded through the State but appropriated more specifically, such as Small Business Center funds and Tech Prep funds.  These funds are referred to as Categoricals and are restricted to be used for these specific purposes

Budget Funding Restrictions - The State has certain requirements that must be considered when distributing these budgets to CCC's various programs. The distribution of State current operating funds are based upon whether or not they are "Instructional Support" (i.e., noninstructional) or "Instructional" funds. Instructional Support funds are provided for the following departments: President's Office, Vice Presidents, Finance Office, Student Enrollment Resources, Learning Resource Center, Academic Support Services, Corporate and Community Education Support Staff, and other General Institution support functions. The second category of current operating funds is "Instructional" funds. This includes both curriculum and non-curriculum funds. Some funds are restricted to specific functions such as Basic Skills Programs. The state also distributes current expense funds by salary and other cost criteria.

Budgeting State Funds by Carteret Community College - On February 1 of each year the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services initiates the budget planning process. A slightly different planning process is applied for each of the State Budget's components which are Personnel, Other Expenses, and Equipment.

Human Resources 

The Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services maintains a master employee list of all permanent, part-time and full-time, positions. The Director of Human Resources is responsible for maintaining records, employment agreements and contracts related to all employees of the college. Each June, the Director of Human Resources reviews and verifies the permanent employee listing and identifies changes for the upcoming fiscal year. Decisions on new permanent personnel are made by the College’s Executive Leadership Team after the appropriate budgets are received. For example, decisions on new positions that are paid from local funds are made following the receipt of the County budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The County budget is generally received in June while the State budget is generally received in the Fall. New positions may be recruited as “subject to availability of funding” but new positions are not finalized until the college receives the actual budget.

Requests for new positions are reviewed and approved by the Executive Leadership Team, which consists of the President and the Vice Presidents. A job description must be developed by the hiring manager and ranked to determine the salary range by the Director of Human Resources. The leadership team reviews the job description, the projected cost of the position, and the justification of need for the position in June. The position may be approved contingent on funding, but the position is not filled until the college is certain that budget funds are available. The leadership team also reviews requests for position changes and salary upgrades in June and approves upgrades contingent upon funding. Generally upgraded salaries are paid retroactive to July 1, but not finalized until budget funds are available.

Other Costs

Other costs are those items that are not personnel or equipment. Major other cost line-items include: travel, supplies and materials, repairs to equipment, subscriptions, audio-visual materials, advertising, and dues.

The college uses the administrative Colleague Computer Information System to prepare other costs budget requests. The Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services sets up the Budget Management module in Colleague in early Spring each year so that budget managers can input their other cost budget requests, for the upcoming fiscal year, by late Spring. Final other cost budget allocations are made by the Executive Leadership Team once the State budget is received. Generally, the State budget is not received until early Fall and in the interim, the budget managers are given an interim budget for other costs. The budget management system allows budget managers to input justifications for their other cost budget requests and the Executive Leadership Team uses the justifications to allocate other cost budgets.

Equipment – [HOLD]

County Funds/Budget 

Definition and Budget Formulation - The county budget (sometimes referred to as "Local") provides for physical plant upkeep and care, physical plant operating costs and local administrative expenditures. Some other current costs such as trustee financial support are also appropriate activities supported by the county current expense budget. The items that utilize the majority of these funds are salaries and utility costs.

County capital support primarily involves physical plant additions, renovations or related costs. Local equipment purchases such as vehicles, tractors, energy management equipment and other related costs are appropriate charges to the capital support portion of the county budget.

The Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services coordinates the annual budget preparation with appropriate personnel and seeks input from the various components of the College in generating the county budget in late winter and early spring. Upon concurrence by the President of the College, the county budget is presented to the College's Board of Trustees in early spring. The Board of Trustees approves the county budget request for submission to the Carteret County Board of Commissioners by the Commissioner’s requested deadline (generally late March/early April). Once the Board receives the approved funding level from the

Commissioners, the Trustees then approve the county budget as a part of the College's annual budget resolution.

Institutional Funds 

Institutional Funds are all other funds except State and County. Some funds included within this fund group include most grants (College Work-Study, PELL, WIOA, etc.), proprietary funds (Bookstore, Food Service, Vending, etc.), loan funds and construction fund grants. Once the Board receives the approved funding level for funds within this group as compiled by the Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services, the Board of Trustees then approves the institutional budget as a part of the College's annual budget resolution.

Management and Control of Budgets 

The President and the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services exercise administrative authority of the distribution and use of County and Institutional funds. The Executive Leadership Team exercises administrative authority of the distribution and use of State funds. Once the annual budget resolution has been approved by the Board of Trustees, the Executive Leadership Team allocates budget other costs and part-time salary monies to departments. Each department has a budget manager who is responsible for managing other cost budget expenditures after the Executive Leadership Team approves budget allocations. The budget manager is generally a Dean, a Chair or an administrative or support department head and they have authority to manage budget transfers within their department’s other cost line items. Budget transfers within functions (at the general ledger purpose code level) are approved by the appropriate Vice President with final approval by the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services. Throughout a budget year, conditions might change for a variety of reasons and adjustments might have to be made to accommodate changes (for example, the State of NC may evaluate receipts during the year and determine that a required reversion of budget funds is necessary). If changes need to be made to budget allocations, the Executive Leadership Team is responsible for recommending changes.

Reporting 

Budget Managers and Vice Presidents access budget reports via WebAdvisor. The Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services, sets up appropriate access for each manager to view their budget, trains Budget Managers on how to view their reports, and sends customized financial reports to them as needed.

Annually, by September 30, the Finance Office prepares comprehensive financial statements in accordance with guidelines set out by the N.C. Department of State Auditors and the N.C. State Controller's Office. These statements include all funds that the College controls through its Board of Trustees. Copies of these statements are sent to the Office of the State Controller and the State Auditor. The Carteret Community College Foundation has financial statements prepared annually by a private CPA firm. The Foundation falls under the direct supervision of the College President and the Executive Director of the Foundation.

Auditing 

An annual audit concerning the State, County, and Institutional funds received and expended by the College is performed by the staff of the State Auditor. A copy of the report goes to the President of the College, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the Chairman of the County Commissioners, and the President of the Community College system. Other independent audits may be ordered by specific agencies, boards, or individuals as stipulated by North Carolina Statutes.