“I’m happy to say that 2014-15 is a very good budget year for Cerritos,” Vice President of Business Services, David El Fattal, said at the start of the Budget Forum, held at the Teleconference Room on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 11 a.m.

The budget forum was presented to Cerritos College faculty and was a rundown on the state of the school’s budget for 2014-15. Community colleges are required to adopt a one-year budget by the state, according to the Campus Budget Forum agenda.

El Fattal pointed out that the revenue was $8.9 million, while the expenditures was equal to $8.7 million, resulting in a balanced budget with $1.2 million left over.

He also pointed out an increase in the Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA, by .85 percent. “They look at how much an increase is to buy a market basket goods. For example, how much does it cost more this year to buy the same market goods as last year? What is the cost increase?

“And they let everybody know, and they give us more money because they know that things cost more and so they pass that money along. It’s a salary increase generally,” El Fattal explained.

Expenditures assumptions included the filling of new positions, such as a campus police officer, a psychologist and a custodian position.

During the forum, Armando Soto, a counselor at Cerritos College, asked where the surplus was going.

“Those are the kinds of questions where we want to know where the money’s going. Is it going to salaries? Are you going to continue to do maintenance? Are you going to continue to improve classroom technology?” Soto said.

El Fattal responded by saying that surplus would go back into the operating costs of the school. Operating costs include things like maintenance, energy costs, student success programs and salaries.

There will be another budget forum on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. in the Teleconference Center.

For the complete agenda of this Budget Forum, go to this link: http://bit.ly/1pPl3Dl.