A-B Tech is $500,000 in the red. Layoffs may come if the county doesn't help.

This story has been updated to include new information from the college. A-B Tech will make additional cuts that, together with the county's additional $300,000 in funding, would eliminate the deficit.

ASHEVILLE - Some A-B Tech employees could face layoffs if county government doesn't help address a roughly $500,000 budget deficit, college administrators warned.

The shortfall comes after commissioners in June voted to give Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College some $6.8 million for its annual contribution, about $750,000 less than what it requested — and after negotiations between the two entities on how to handle long-misspent tax revenue that was intended to fund campus construction.

Commissioners may help, but a staff recommendation that will be considered at their Aug. 20 meeting would fall short of erasing the deficit: County Manager Avril Pinder is proposing $300,000 in additional funding, most of which would cover telecommunications costs previously paid by the state.

The remaining $50,000 would fund a 1% salary increase for the college's county-funded positions. The money would be transferred from funds intended for the public safety training center, according to staff reports.

A-B Tech spokeswoman Kerri Glover said Aug. 19 that the college has since identified an additional $200,000 in cuts through energy cost-saving measures, a reduction in presidential pay following Dennis King's retirement next year and moving legal fees to be covered by state funds, among other moves.

The college previously cut $250,000 by substituting vacant positions for contracted employees and moving funds for its public safety and maintenance vehicles.

In total, A-B Tech will have cut $450,000 before receiving any additional funding from the county.

King had said without additional county funding, potential layoff options include eliminating an overnight police presence. Right now, the campus is patrolled around the clock, including on weekends.

"If we can work that out with the county administration, great," King said during an Aug. 12 meeting with college trustees. "If we can't, we'll come back to this board and say these are recommendations from the administration as to how to save money."

Buncombe County is required to allocate funding every year to A-B Tech under state law. That allocation covers mostly costs associated with operations and some maintenance, including nearly 60 full- and part-time positions.

How the county funds A-B Tech

About 7% of A-B Tech's budget comes from the county's annual contribution. Though a standoff in Raleigh has meant that state numbers aren't yet finalized, Chief Finance Officer Dirk Wilmoth said officials are anticipating a balanced budget.

Wilmoth told trustees the deficit stems from a $2 million drop in funding the county handed to A-B Tech in 2013 — a roughly 25% decrease.

Before that, the college was receiving about $8 million annually. It hasn't been restored to that level since.

That's despite a Citizen Times analysis that found the county quietly used more than $15 million of quarter-cent sales tax proceeds since 2011 to balance its own budget — despite voters approving the tax to fund a $130 million construction plan at A-B Tech and nothing more.

The vast majority instead was used to fund the county's appropriation toward A-B Tech operations. But the Citizen Times found more than $450,000 went toward salaries, including those of corrupt ex-managers Wanda Greene and Jon Creighton.

Commissioners initially discussed reimbursing the college for what was spent on their salaries, but the issue went unaddressed in the latest budget talks.

Now, an agreement reached in March allows commissioners each year to use as much as $5 million of the quarter-cent sales tax fund toward its A-B Tech appropriation. That deal, approved in a split vote by college trustees, increases maintenance expenses to address a $25 million backlog and grows the fund balance to make possible future construction of a new building.

The deal is expected to be turned into a local bill by the General Assembly to make it a binding agreement, but has yet to be voted on.

While education funding is the county budget's largest expense this year, all institutions — including Asheville City and Buncombe County schools — did not see their funding requests fully granted.

Wilmoth said when county officials slashed A-B Tech's annual appropriation, they pointed to the college's more than $2 million surplus. That's since been spent down, he said, with only $26,000 left.

"The appropriation they were giving us was not enough to pay for our expenses," Wilmoth said.

Cut utilities costs to help with budget woes?

Commissioners Chairman Brownie Newman said he's met with King in recent weeks to discuss the budget. The county's appropriation to A-B Tech, part of Buncombe's own budget, is required to be approved before the end of June each year — and that's difficult to do with the usual absence of a state budget by that time.

"Since the budgets of all of our education institutions — city schools, county schools and A-B Tech — are so driven by state budget decisions, it's challenging to adopt the county budget for these agencies not knowing how the state funding will play out," Newman said.

Newman said he's concerned about A-B Tech's utilities costs, a figure he says is higher than that of other community colleges across the state.

A-B Tech trustees, who are considering partnering with the county to explore solar power options on their buildings, said at their Aug. 12 meeting that the college spends about $1 million annually on utilities costs.

"Rather than just providing more money to pay these exorbitant utility costs, we should invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to significantly reduce A-B Tech’s high utility costs which are diverting funds away from their educational mission," Newman said. "This approach also has the added benefit of helping transition the community to cleaner sources of energy."