Nic Budget Eases Strain On Taxpayers Tuition Will Increase, As Will State Funding

An increase in tuition and state money will slightly ease the burden on property taxpayers under the proposed budget for North Idaho College.

The NIC board of trustees is scheduled to approve the $18.7 million budget at its Wednesday meeting.

“We still anticipate that the taxpayer in North Idaho will in fact pay less real dollars to North Idaho College than they did last year,” said Rolland Jurgens, dean of administration.

An audit of NIC’s books last fall predicted that county tax revenue would outstrip state and student revenues in the coming year.

That hasn’t occurred because the college increased student fees by $46 per student and got an almost 10 percent increase in state funding.

“This year we’re putting more of a burden on our students,” Jurgens said.

The budget anticipates income from tuition to be about $3.3 million and from taxpayers $5.7 million.

Direct state aid is only about $5.4 million, but the college also gets $150,000 from the state liquor tax, $2.2 million for applied technology programs and a one-time allocation of $80,000 for improving campus technology.

Although the local tax revenue will increase by about $700,000, Jurgens said the college planned for most of that to come from new growth.

The average homeowner, who owns property with a taxable value of $67,500, should pay $3.59 less under the new budget. The average tax bill to NIC will be $94.25, according to the most recent estimates from the State Tax Commission, Jurgens said.

A little more than 75 percent of the new money to the college will go toward personnel, and the rest is dedicated to maintenance and operations.

Salaries increased 3.9 percent overall, and employee benefits increased 10.3 percent because of higher health insurance costs, Jurgens said.

The biggest capital projects in the coming year include remodeling the Fort Sherman Officers Quarters and the computer center, and purchasing a used bus for athletics and other student activities.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the Kootenai Room of the Student Union Building.

, DataTimes