NORWICH – County government decision makers again scrutinized the proposed 2008 budget for Morrisville State College’s Norwich campus last week.

A requested 3 percent increase over 2007, on an approximate $34,000 budget, unanimously passed through two committees and is successfully on its way to being approved by the full board.

However, last Wednesday, Treasurer William E. Evans asked the college’s dean to look at whether a nearly half million dollar up-tick in community college charge backs this year was the result of losing an employee dedicated to marketing.

County leaders tentatively approved a $750,000 budget for payments to community colleges in 2007, but Evans reported fall bills were $476,000 more. New York’s community colleges have varied negotiated rates for full-time equivalent students, but all are subsidized – in equal thirds – by the enrolled student, by the county where that student resides and by the state.

Finance Committee member Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, said he recalled that “the object” for Chenango’s financial backing of Morrisville’s new Eaton Center-based campus was tied to hiring a recruiter to cut back on the number of students enrolling in colleges outside the county.

The Morrisville campus has been without a dedicated public relations person for two years. Dean Ted Nichols said he had researched the original contract agreement between the college and Chenango County and found no direct reference to hiring a specific employee. “It was related to marketing tools,” he told the committee.