Daniel Zuckerman is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Columbia-Greene Community College operating budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year has now been approved by the Greene County Legislature and the Columbia County Board of Supervisors. Overall, the spending plan declined by three percent, including a decline in salaries. The decrease is due to a number of faculty retirements, college President James Campion said. As a result, employee benefits have also decreased. “We had senior people retire — typically their successors come in at a lower rate,” he said. The coming school year is the first time cybersecurity insurance was required. The $20,000 expenditure was recommended by State University of New York, Campion said. College officials are seeing some savings in the college’s electrical use due to the use solar energy. The college’s main academic building has been geothermal since 1997, Campion said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.