Butler County Community College is looking for a financial partner and the right location to open a small educational facility in Butler.

BC3 is looking to have a “very small presence” in the city, Nicholas Neupauer, BC3 president, said at Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting.

An underwriter will be needed to offset the cost of operating the facility and many landlords have approached BC3 about leasing property, Neupauer said.

He said three or four properties are under consideration.

“All signs seem to indicate it’s going quite well,” Neupauer said of the process.

A facility in the city has been discussed for years, said Joe Taylor, a BC3 trustee. Taylor said he is glad those discussions are finally leading to action.

The city needs the revenue a BC3 facility can generate, Neupauer said.

“I think it’s a positive,” he said.

After the meeting Neupauer said the project is in its early stages, but he hopes trustees will be able to make a decision on opening a facility by June 30.

“It would be important for the college to establish a presence in downtown. It would have to make sense programmatically and from a partnership prospective,” he said.

Non-credit, lifelong learning classes would be offered initially and credit courses could be added in the future, Neupauer said.

The facility could also offer workforce training for existing downtown businesses, he said.

Opening the facility fits BC3’s role as a “convener and educator,” Neupauer said.

In unrelated business, the college’s operating budget is nearly $500,000 in the black.

The school has received a $2.05 million appropriation from the state and a $971,419 appropriation from Butler County, and revenues are $63,535 above the $13.7 million budget for 2017-18, said James Hrabosky, vice president of administration and finance.

Expenditures are $422,658 under budget. Overall the school is $486,193 ahead of the budget, Hrabosky said.

Enrollment figures show total student credits are down 455, or 1.55 percent, from the spring 2017 semester, he said. A 2 percent decline was budgeted.

Internet course enrollment increased from 818 in the spring 2017 semester to 953 this spring semester, Hrabosky said.

Enrollment figures varied at BC3’s campuses for the spring 2018 semester. The Cranberry campus has 247 students, down 48 from last spring; Lawrence Crossing has 319 students, down 38 from last spring; Lindenpointe has 217 students, a gain of six; Brockway has 74 students, down 13; Butler has 1,656 students, down eight; and Armstrong has 119, a gain of 41.