Official Maricopa Functions

The breadth of instruction and related services that a community college offers makes it necessary to spend dollars on all sorts of goods and services. Authority to spend, however, is not without limits.

Most commonly, the limits on spending are imposed by scarcity of resources. Virtually no institution has enough revenues to do all that it wants to do.

Other limits exist not due to lack of funds, but rather because of the public nature of community colleges. A budget may allow, for example, for money to be spent on lavish food and entertainment. Since the money is public funds, however, some restraint is prudent.

Public institutions strive to strike a balance, then, that allows them to spend money on things like meals and even small gifts of nominal value, always mindful of the public nature of the money these institutions use to pay for them.

This balance now comes in the form of a new administrative regulation regarding what Maricopa calls "official functions."

Official Functions Defined

The regulation defines an official function as an activity or item that:

• Does not appear to be, without explanation, an ordinary and necessary function of the Maricopa District as a public educational institution;
• Provides a tangible benefit and links directly to Maricopa's educational mission; and
• Is reasonable and commensurate in value to the tangible benefit that Maricopa will receive.

No doubt the most obvious example of an official function at Maricopa is the serving of food at a college- or District-sponsored event.

Many would make a convincing case that serving food for employees, or even the public, is not an "ordinary and necessary function" of a public educational institution like Maricopa.

Nevertheless, the official functions regulation allows college or District funds to be used for food purchases-provided that the purchase provides a "reasonable and tangible benefit" to Maricopa, relates to the District's mission, and is "reasonable and commensurate in value to the tangible benefit" that the college or District will receive.

The use of the word "tangible" is instructive. Simply because an expenditure has the possibility of yielding a benefit would not deem it an official function allowed under the regulation.

The regulation also addresses the use of public funds for membership in professional organizations. Such an expenditure is allowed, provided that the organizations "are specifically and directly related to MCCCD's educational mission or to an employee's job."

Under the regulation, however, the "payment of memberships in non-school related civic or community groups" is deemed "inappropriate."

The regulation also addresses the use of funds collected by student organizations: "Student groups may make modest contributions or donations or purchase items to donate to third parties for charitable purposes but only if they use funds raised by them for that purpose. Other funds may not be used."

Permissible Expenditures

Examples of expenditures that, under the regulation, may be official functions include employee or officer retreats, employee or officer retirements, non-travel restaurant charges, conference banquet or hotel contracts, and sponsorships and institutional memberships in chambers of commerce where the Maricopa entity is located.

Nonpermissible Expenditures

Expenditures that would not be permissible under the official functions regulation include charges for alcoholic beverages, charitable contributions or donations (except those by student organizations), dues for memberships in non-school related civic or community organizations (such as Rotary or Kiwanis), gifts of any type for personal life events (births, weddings, funerals, etc.), and gifts for personal use (such as apparel, jewelry or luggage) in appreciation of a Maricopa employee or officer.

Published in the Fall 2003 Edition of In Brief