The Southwestern Community College (SWCC) board of trustees met in special session on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, at 8:30 a.m., in the board room of the college’s Administration Center.
During the meeting, the board voted to receipt and file the college’s annual audit report, presented by Dave Ellis from Denman & Company, LLP. Ellis said the audit was clean and the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements.
According to the audit report presented to the board, “The college’s net position increased approximately 6.0% or $1.5 million over the June 30, 2022 balance.” In addition, the college implemented new standards, “Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement (GASBS) No. 96 Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements,” during fiscal year 2023. Ellis closed his presentation stating no noncompliance issues were reported and thanked Brandi Shay, SWCC chief financial officer, and her team for their assistance.
In other business, Shay reported to the board regarding proposed changes to the college’s early retirement policy following the annual review of the program. Due to changes in the balance of the Fund 2 levy, the levy created years ago to generate the total revenue to fund the early retirement program, the policy needed modifications to ensure the longevity of the program.
Shay said modifications to the early retirement policy proposal included the following:
- moving the early retirement application deadline from April 1 to February 1,
- increasing the minimum age to apply for early retirement from 55 years of age to 57 years of age,
- placing cash payments into a 403(b) annuity, which will be accessible to employees at age 59 ½ (without penalty), saving the college and the retiree FICA, and
- providing a monthly sum of up to $1,250 to cover or offset the cost of the employee’s continued insurance coverage (single or family) until the retiree reaches Medicare eligibility.
In a memo to the board, Shay said there are 15 SWCC employees who will be eligible for early retirement under the new 2024 guidelines and 20 former Southwestern employees currently utilizing the early retirement program benefits.
Fred Shearer of Corning, vice president of the SWCC board, asked Shay if there were employees who would have been eligible under the former plan, but would not be eligible under the new program guidelines. Shay said there were three employees who were affected due to the change in the retirement age.
Zach Gunsolley of Diagonal, SWCC board member, said while he realizes this is a sensitive issue he gives kudos to college administration for seeing the cliff the college was headed for and steering the college away from it.
Shay responded by saying the goal is for the program to be sustainable over time.
Following discussion, the board approved the early retirement policy as presented.
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