FDTC financial problems outlined at commission meeting
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
On March 8, Florence-Darlington Technical College’s president Ben Dillard resigned. According to a report given during the March 27 Florence Darlington County Commission for Technical Education, that may be the least of the college’s problems.
According to commissioner Hood Temple, in the last several years the college has been experiencing financial problems, even if those problems were not being fully divulged.
“There were a number of concerns raised about the financial integrity of the school,” Temple said. “Despite assurances from council on numerous occasions regarding the financial health of the school, we’ve determined that not to have been correct.”
Temple said that the financial status of the college even caused their bond rating to be downgraded.
“In June 2016, as the Moody’s report reflected, we went from a healthy 72 days cash on hand to 12 days cash on hand,” Temple said. “It is my information and belief that in January 2018, despite assurances to the contrary, that we continued to decline to where, at one point, we were four days cash on hand. That is extremely concerning. Ben Dillard resigned on the eighth of March. On the 13th of March, Moody’s issued their report downgrading our bond rating from AAA to BAA2, which is a two level decline.”
According to the Moody’s website, a rating of BAA2 means that the institution is considered a ‘moderate credit risk’, which could hurt their ability to borrow money.
The amount of cash FDTC has on hand has improved with some of the cuts being made.
Temple said that he wanted to put it out in the open for everyone to know and understand the challenges the commission is dealing with.
“I think the most important thing that we can do at this point is to instill confidence in our stakeholders that we recognize the issues that are here,” Temple said. “This board has absolutely come together to work and address these issues.”
Temple said that there were several things listed in the Moody’s report as contributing factors for the downgrading.
“In their report, they cite cash on hand, declining enrollment and some uncertainties that were detailed in that report,” Temple said. “We immediately took action…There were problems. The faculty knew it, the students knew it, and unfortunately, it took this situation to bring it all to light.”
Under the leadership of interim president Edward Bethea, who has worked for the college for 31 years, Temple said that the college has taken some corrective actions.
“Immediately, Doug Lange came in and decided that there are some areas that can be cut,” Temple said. “There is some low-hanging fruit that will not affect our mission; that will not affect the quality of the academic offerings. He did that right off the bat and it is about $1.1 million. Historically, we were doing things that I don’t believe were in the best interest of the school and was not healthy.”
One area that was causing issues was the school’s budget, which was not based on accurate figures.
“Our budget was based on an FTE (full-time enrollment) count that was not accurate and had not been accurate despite insistences from some of the senior staff to the president, at that time, that it be based on more realistic numbers,” Temple said. “We were including dual-enrollment students that we were losing money on each student. We were basing our budget on an FTE count that was about 1,000 more than it should have been. Unfortunately, mid-year we have to have a correction in the budget. Those days are over.”
Temple said that the college would continue taking corrective actions to ensure that they are offering the best education possible.
“We are going to look at all the courses that we have and make sure that some of that duplication that is out there is eliminated so that we’re offering the courses and doing the things we need to do with the rigor the community has grown the expect from us, not offering the same class multiple times with minimal participation,” Temple said. “We are also going to look at a course review…to see what is successful and what is not successful. We’ll look at dual-enrollment and, in concert with our districts, come up with a plan that serves the dual-enrollment needs of our community, at the same time not hindering the financial health of the school.”