ROCK SPRINGS — Action by the Wyoming Legislature earlier this year, along with a decline in the county’s assessed valuation are causing Western Wyoming Community College to consider reducing its employee numbers in the future at a time when its enrollment and offerings are growing.

The college, by any metric, is seeing noteworthy growth. Enrollment alone at Western is up nearly 10 percent from last year.

“I’ve been at other places where we would do backflips if we were up by 3 percent,” President Kirk Young told SweetwaterNOW Friday. “To be up 10 percent really is, especially in this day and age, almost unheard of.”

Young said there are also exciting initiatives going on at the college, which include the upcoming launch of a first-of-its-kind nuclear technician program and the opening of the health sciences wing that is currently under construction. However, Young said the college also faced an outdated compensation schedule and budgetary spending that relied on reserves to balance the budget. As it has worked to navigate those issues, additional funding challenges from the Wyoming Legislature’s property tax initiatives and reductions in county valuation have caused the college to look at cutting back its costs further, which includes reducing its staff numbers.

It’s just really hard because there’s exciting things going on, there are great opportunities in this area, people are getting on board and there’s a lot of energy, and I would say now is the time to make sure we are fully invested in that. Yet, the legislation that’s gone through sends a different message and rather than investing in that great opportunity that exists, instead we’re pulling back.

Kirk Young, Western Wyoming Community College President

Young said he wants to be transparent with the college’s staff and faculty and informed them the college would be cutting costs and some positions during an employee meeting two weeks ago. He said the administration will be thoughtful in how the college will navigate the situation. The discussions about when and how a reduction in force will occur are still very early. Young said a pair of special executive session meetings the college’s board of trustees had earlier this week were not related to staff cuts.

“We’re going through it and about it in the right way and in ways that we’ll ensure that the college will be very healthy moving forward, so we can continue to build on all of this success,” Young said.

Upon arriving at the college last year, Young encountered a situation where the college couldn’t recruit for some positions because it wasn’t competitive enough to attract instructors to its high-demand programs and a budget that relied upon the college’s reserves. Young said the college recently initiated the first phase of a compensation overhaul to bring salaries in line with market expectations, which has had the effect of increasing salaries for employees.

Young said the college has a healthy cash reserve set aside, but prior budgets have utilized those reserves to ensure they were balanced. Continuing to operate using those reserves would end up depleting the funds and place the college in a position where it would be forced to make drastic cuts when reserves dry up. To pull back the college’s reliance on those reserves, Young asked the department heads to cut 10-15 percent of their budgets to rein in spending. 

“We’re starting to make progress on that, and the college departments did a great job,” Young said. “It helped us, and it felt like we were moving in a good direction,” Young said. 

When the legislature opted to pass a permanent 25 percent cut in property taxes earlier this year, Young said the move resulted in a loss of about $700,000 in revenue to Western. Leaders from throughout the state have urged legislators against further property tax reform recently due to the impacts they have on local governments, special tax districts, community colleges, and other services. Young has lent his voice to that discussion, saying he has spoken with some area legislators about the impacts property tax reductions have had on the college. However, that debate is ongoing. Members of the Joint Revenue Committee have voted earlier this summer to draft a bill what would eliminate all property taxes, while floating ideas such as increasing sales tax to make up the revenue.

For Young, the frustration is being forced to cut back at a time when the college should be moving forward to meet the increasing demand it’s experiencing. He said while the college was tightening its belt in some areas, the legislation passed earlier this year has had a significant impact on how the college will move forward.

“It’s just really hard because there’s exciting things going on, there are great opportunities in this area, people are getting on board and there’s a lot of energy, and I would say now is the time to make sure we are fully invested in that,” Young said. “Yet, the legislation that’s gone through sends a different message and rather than investing in that great opportunity that exists, instead we’re pulling back.”