The Fiscal Year 2019 Budget-in-Brief highlights promising initiatives for both the short and long-term future. With multiple upcoming resources and expansions; students, staff and the public have numerous projects to watch and look forward to in the 2018-2019 school year.

The FY2019 Budget of COD began July 1, 2018, and will end June 30, 2019. The Budget-in-Brief highlights an organizational update, facilities master plan, ideas on Innovation DuPage and Project Hire-Ed.

Beginning July 1, the vice president of student affairs and the vice president of academic affairs was combined to create the provost position. The provost is intended to touch every aspect of student life ranging from enrollment to graduation.

The college recently contracted with a firm to prepare a new Facilities Master Plan that is to be finalized in FY2019. The new redesigned programs will address all aspects of a student’s college experience. The central goal is to help students choose and complete a program aligned with their further education or employment. The Facilities Master Plan will go over the location of various offices on campus and determine spatial needs for the future.

The college looks forward to renovating 8,200 square feet of vacant space in the Glen Ellyn Civic Center for Innovation DuPage, the new business expediter is predicted to be $2 million.

Project Hire-Ed looks to cultivate the advancement of career programs for an array of workers. The plan is to connect COD programs with a range of employment opportunities in the area to not only further students education but introduce students to employment opportunities outside of the college.

COD’s revenue structure consists of local property taxes, student tuition and fees, state aid and federal aid. In total, the budget for the upcoming year is approximately $325,367,000. COD collects 3 percent of the average DuPage County tax bill, equating to upwards of $100 million. The college’s current in-district rate per credit hour is $136, which has reduced $8 since 2014. State aid equated to $100,076,187, with 80 percent of the revenue in aide being used towards future retirement and healthcare.

The construction fund for FY2019 covers both construction costs for the following year and non-recurring capital items.

One major upcoming project is renovation on the Beem building after being shut down in 2017. The building most recently housed the Early Childhood Education program.The college will relocate some programs and administration from east campus to the Beem building on the west campus. The estimated cost for this project is $5,030,100.

Another upcoming project will be a new student support center estimated at about $2 million.

Finally, Innovation DuPage will open in 2018. The intent is to partner with small businesses in the area to promote job growth. The estimated cost is a little over $2 million.

The Auxiliary Enterprise Fund uses about 3 percent of the pre-budgeted expenditures for the year. It records revenues and expenditures associated with services provided to students, faculty, staff and the general public. The Auxiliary Enterprise Fund covers Continuing Education, the McAninch Art Center (MAC), WDCB Radio and field studies.

The Courier will be actively staying up to date on the progression of COD’s construction projects and plans to check in throughout the year.Infographic by Alison Pfaff