Howard College trustees will begin giving form to the district's new budget when they hold a workshop and monthly meeting Monday in the Tumbleweed Room of the college student union building.

The budget workshop will begin at 10:30 a.m., followed by the regular meeting at 12:30 p.m.

Howard College President Dr. Cheryl Sparks said officials were in the preliminary stages of shaping the budget for the next fiscal year.

“We are still literally working on it,” she said. “We will work with trustees on Monday and they will give us instructions on how they want us to proceed. The next step will be for us to have a hearing on the budget ... and hopefully, around Aug. 25, we'll formally adopt the budget.”

While Sparks said there were few bottom-line figures agreed on at this time, she foresees a “low-frills” budget similar to the previous year's package.

“We have growing technology needs, but we haven't addressed them in the budget at this time,” she said. “We are going to look at alternative financing methods to try to meet those needs ... We are trying to keep this budget as close as possible to past budgets.”

Last year's $35 million budget included $10 million in start-up costs associated with campus-wide renovation and construction authorized by voters in May 2007. The first major project in the two-year undertaking — electrical upgrades — also will be addressed by trustees Monday.

Sparks said bids will be awarded for the electrical work, which is scheduled to begin in early September.

After taking more than a year to set and fine-tune construction plans, Sparks said college officials are more than ready for the actual work to begin.

“We are delighted to begin the bond programs,” she said. “We are very comfortable about where we are at the current time ... but we will continue assessing things throughout the project.”

Also Monday, trustees will consider:

• The county appraisal district budget.

• Bids for the food service contract and technology equipment at the Big Spring and San Angelo campuses.

• Renewal of the district's insurance policy.

• Personnel matters and handbook and catalog changes.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it