NORWICH – The make-up of students at Morrisville State College’s campus in Norwich has changed over the last decade from mostly adults to at least 50 percent being more traditionally college-aged.
“That’s a big difference. Our complexion has changed,” Dean Ted Nichols said at a budget planning meeting of the Planning & Economic Development Committee this week.
A more traditionally-aged student body along with newly implemented educational programs in early childhood development, human services and criminal justice is hoped to boost registration at the Conkey Avenue branch campus. The trend has already begun with 519 students registered this fall versus 499 in 2005.
Committee Chairwoman Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich, said the criminal justice program in particular should be a big draw to students from outside the county. “We pay a hefty chunk of money to pay for our students to go to community colleges outside. We hope this will bring them back and bring in students from outside,” she said.
When making the decision three years ago to expand Morrisville’s Norwich branch, lawmakers had hoped the new campus would eventually keep students from attending colleges outside the county. Taxpayers pays about $800,000 for college charge backs each year.
There were no figures related to actual credit hours in Nichols’ report to the committee, however. City of Norwich Supervisor James McNeil asked the dean to include year-to-year comparisons in future budget proposals.
The college’s budget calls for $33,946 and represents a nearly 3 percent increase. The taxpayer dollars are dedicated to outreach and recruitment, marketing materials, web development and community partnerships with public health departments, Commerce Chenango, and Opportunities for Chenango among others. Nearly 2,000 individuals attended non-credit, community-sponsored courses last year.
“This is a very small price to pay for a such an asset in our community,” Natoli said about the college’s budget. She accepted a motion to pass it through for review by the county’s Finance Committee.
The college’s draft 2008 budget was one of a handful passed through committee Tuesday. Town leaders scrutinized budgets for the Department of Planning and Development, Lt. Warren E. Eaton/Chenango County Airport, the county Historian’s office and the Environmental Management Council.
The committee elected to cut the planning department’s membership to the Southern Tier East Regional Planning Development Board (STERPDB). Annual dues amount to about $11,000 per year. Those officials serving on the board, McNeil and Jack T. Cook of Greene, said the STERPDB did not service the area.
“I don’t see where it does anything for us,” Cook said. “I would rather see the money go to a grant writer available to all towns. We have one in Greene who has brought in thousands for our town.”
Natoli said the department’s two planners and one director were being asked to address more and more assignments, including the comprehensive plan, the upcoming 2010 Census and mandatory training of town planners and municipal zoning boards.
“We are getting to be a viable planning department again,” she said. “Pretty soon we should see a senior planner position on the horizon for this department.” The department had about 10 employees in the 1990s.
Town of New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello said a lot of towns aren’t apt to call the county for planning help. “A lot is being missed,” he said.
Department Director Donna M. Jones said she had hoped to be further along in writing the county’s comprehensive plan, a document that hasn’t been officially updated since 1974. (A visionary plan for the year 2020 and a Commerce Chenango economic development plan were written more recently.)
“I thought I would be further along with the comp plan, but people have been calling me. I don’t have enough time to handle everything,” Jones said.
“You can’t be an expert on everything,” Iannello said.
McNeil made a motion, seconded by Cook, that placed $25,000 in a consultant’s line for the department. The department would ask for a $129,000 budget next year.
Lt. Warren E. Eaton Airport’s proposed budget, with expenses of $30,770 matching revenues and requiring no local share, was also passed along to the Finance Committee. Administrator Donald W. MacIntosh said there was a waiting list for space in the 12 hangers available for lease. He also told the committee that independent operators, PrivatAir would not be affected by flights cut if Procter & Gamble Pharmaceutical’s Woods Corner’s facility in Norwich were to close.
“They said it was important for them to remain here,” MacIntosh said.