Pasadena City College
Serving PCC
Since 1915
OUR
MARCH 24, 2016
VOLUME 113
ISSUE 05
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM
$1.4 million settlement reached for winter
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
After eight months of negotiating the loss
of wages for faculty that were affected by
the removal of winter intercession in 2012,
the Board of Trustees, Pasadena City College
Faculty Association (PCCFA) and administra¬
tion finally reached a settlement at last week’s
board meeting which will cost the district a
total of $1.4 million.
The settlement comes as a result of the
July 30 ruling from the Public Employment
Relations Board, which found the district had
violated the law four years ago by eliminat¬
ing winter intersession from the academic
calendar and not negotiating with the PCCFA
before taking action.
According to Senior Vice President and
Assistant Superintendent for Business and
College Services Dr. Robert Miller, “214
individuals were named in the settlement
and a $100,000 was set aside for additional
payments as needed.”
Each affected employee is to receive $4,672
from the district including worker’s compen¬
sation and Medicare with state and federal
taxes deducted from the payments.
In addition to getting compensated for all
losses suffered during the last three years, the
settlement included a 21 percent interest rate,
which was the total of a seven percent interest
rate per year and amounting to a total of
$1,051 for each employee that was affected.
The interest rate will be compensated in a sep¬
arate check with no tax deducted.
Since the session was eliminated in 2012
there was no 2013 winter class schedule to
work from in determining who among the
SETTLEMENT pg. 2
Ahmad Akkaoui/Courier
PCC Faculty Association President Julie Kiotas at the Board of Trustees meet¬
ing on March 16.
The Deals
Cold Hard Facts
$1.4 million
settlement reached
for winter
cancellation
-4^ Each affected
'fill employee to receive
* $4,672.00 - taxes
will be deducted
An additional $1.051 ^ , 4. 2 1 4 employees will
ifpil in interest will be receive part of the
paid out untaxed ' f settlement
Worker’s compensation $100,000 set aside
iffpi and Medicare will be -vfpl for additional
included v payments
Graphic by Katja Liebing
I-TAP hits a roadblock between Metro and PCC
Erin Dobrzyn
Staff Writer
As of the 2016-2017 school year,
PCC students will no longer be able
to purchase I-TAP cards in order
to receive discounted fare on Metro
transit services.
Rebecca Cobb, the dean of
student life, wrote in an email that
by that by the end of July 2016
the I-TAP cards will no longer be
offered to students who rely on the
reduced Metro fare to commute to
school.
The decision to discontinue the
program stemmed from a disagree¬
ment between PCC and Metro as to
which students on campus would be
entided to purchase I-TAP cards.
PCC originally worked in
combination with Santa Monica
College and Metro to establish a
reduced fare I-TAP card agreement.
According to Alex Boekelheide, the
executive director of strategic com¬
munications and marketing at PCC,
“the agreement worked for a while,
but the school wanted to open the
I-TAP cards up to all smdents, not
just full-time smdents, and Metro
had some issues with that arrange¬
ment.”
From Boekelheide’s understand¬
ing, Metro was more comfortable
with giving passes to full-time
smdents because smdents who may
be only taking one class could get
discounted fares to Metro’s services,
which would not be beneficial to
Metro.
“So many of our smdents are
part-timers, and that is where the
impasse has become,” Boekelheide
said. “PCC pulling out of the I-TAP
program is not an accurate way to
describe [the situation]. What is
happening is that there are some
disagreements going on right now
over how the I-TAP program has
been arranged, and we are trying to
work that out with Metro.”
However, PCC and Metro are
working to come to an agreement
over the situation.
As part of this agree¬
ment-in-progress, the California
State Assembly has been working
towards passing Assembly Bill 2222
(AB2222), spearheaded by Assem¬
blyman Chris Holden (D- Pasade¬
na).
According to the office of As¬
semblyman Holden, “the bill would
take $50 million of revenues from
California’s Cap & Trade carbon
auctions and use them to provide
subsidized transit passes for college
smdents. Community Colleges with
a strong transportation plan would
be able to seek the funding from
Caltrans to provide the passes [to
smdents].”
Garo Manjikian, press aide to
Holden, explained that it would take
“about 8-9 months from the bill’s
introduction until the Governor
decides to sign or veto a measure.
I-TAP pg. 2
Bond refinance
saves taxpayers
millions
John Orona
Managing Editor
In a move estimated to save tax¬
payers over $7 million, the Board of
Trustees adopted a resolution last
Wednesday to refinance some of
the school’s 2002 Measure P bonds
in order to take advantage of lower
interest rates.
These savings will be felt via
lower taxes for Pasadena Area Com¬
munity College District (PACCD)
residents, with the average taxpayer,
based on median home values,
saving $35.23
Approximately $150 million in
general obligation bonds intended
to fund repairs and rehabilitations to
the school facilities were approved
by PACCD voters in March 2002:
Some of that money has since gone
to projects like renovating the Cam¬
pus Center and building the Center
for the Arts and Informational
Technology building.
Of the original $150 million, $37
million worth are able to be refi¬
nanced from a 4.94 percent interest
rate to an estimated current market
rate of 2.38 percent. The interest
rate change will be the only part of
the bond modified during the refi-
BONDS pg. 2
Hannah Gonzales/Courier
The Metro Goldline train approaches Allen station in Pasadena on Wednesday. PCC and Metro
will not be renewing the I-TAP card for full-time students for the 2016-201 7 school year.
