Cayuga Community College has asked the Cayuga County Legislature for a 4 percent increase in funding this year. It would be the first voluntary increase over and above the county's state-mandated contribution in three years, and the Legislature should approve it.

Without any reasonable arguments as to why, however, the Legislature seems poised to reject the college's request.

The college is a vital part of this community and the county should be doing everything it can to support it.

Not only is the college a big employer, it more importantly serves as the center for research and study in this area. Employers in the region depend on the college to turn out graduates ready to hit the ground running, and the college, in turn, is always open to partnering with business and industry to design courses of study that match the needs of employers, giving its students the very specific foundations they need to make an immediate impact in the workplace while at the same time helping local employers attract and retain local workers.

Legislature Chairman Roger Mills raised a good point when he said that if the county rejects the funding request that it would essentially be penalizing the college for running a tight ship. If the college was struggling financially, the county would not only have a greater obligation to help out, but lawmakers would have every right to suspect that school administrators weren't doing their jobs.

But that's not the case.

CCC is not an institution known for extravagant spending and currently finds itself in solid shape financially, but that doesn't mean it should be forced to operate on a shoe-string budget.

This 4 percent increase - $107,000 - is not enough money to put up a fight over. It's basically an inflationary increase, and the Legislature should approve it.