Board increases tuition, property taxes

Taxpayers and students will help Alamo Colleges cope with budget shortfalls by paying higher taxes and tuition as a result of action by the Alamo Community College District board of trustees Thursday evening.

Trustees passed both a 5 percent increase in tuition beginning in the spring to bring in $1.9 million and an increase in property taxes to an effective rate of .096873 per $100 valuation to bring in $5 million in revenue.

Before voting began, Diane E. Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, went over the budget plans for fiscal year 2011 that she had presented at the committee meeting on Aug.10.

Snyder explained that the administration split 25 key strategies in five parts so the board could vote on them separately.

The five parts included the tuition increase, property tax rate increase, implementation of other revenue generation initiatives, implementation of Alamo workforce related initiatives and reduction of expenses.

These five strategies would fill a budget shortfall of fiscal $21.2 million, she said.

These funds would support the cost to maintain 24 new buildings affected by an 8 percent increase in electricity rates.    

Also, the strategies address the $5 million cut in state appropriations for fiscal year 2010, which amounts to a total cut in state funds of $7,154,068 for the biennial period.  

After the budget presentation, the board moved to increase tuition by 5 percent for spring 2011.   

District 5 trustee Roberto Zarate asked about the status of students on financial aid.   

Dr. Adelina Silva, vice chancellor for student success, reiterated that more than 55 percent of students at district colleges are on financial aid with half getting a Pell Grant of the maximum amount of $2,775 a semester.   

She said this grant gives full-time students $100 more than last year's total Pell Grant of $2,675 per semester.   

She explained this figure includes only the Pell Grant and doesn't accommodate additional amounts students are able to apply for based on financial need.   

District 1 trustee Joe Alderete Jr., District 3 trustee Anna Uriegas Bustamante and District 7 trustee Blakely Latham Fernandez voted against the tuition increase for the 6-3 vote.  

In discussing a property tax rate increase, District 2 trustee Denver McClendon, who was tuning in to the board meeting over a speaker phone, broke the ice, asking if they could call him back on his cell phone because his phone was going to die. Zarate joked that it was "the voice from above."   

After minutes of downtime and trying to get McClendon back on the phone, District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel issued a roll call vote to approve an increase in property taxes that would add $5.77 per year to a home valued at $100,000.   

Again, Alderete, Bustamante and Fernandez were the only "nays."   

Although the board had approved, they continued to give their thanks to the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee for their "professionalism," Zarate said. He described the wholedecision as a "tough process."

Alderete expressed his disagreement with the decision.    

"We should have pushed harder," he said. "They're taking money away from education to fund jails. There needs to be a change in this momentum. We cannot be satisfied being the 48th in the country."    

McClendon said he agreed with Alderete, but said, "Our concern is our students. We have to take action now. We are building the necessary step."   

District 9 trustee James Rindfuss said, "It's not an easy decision. There were many times before we discussed bumping taxes up, but the board said, 'No, we're not going to increase taxes until we absolutely need to,' and that's where we are now. We absolutely need to."

After the approval of the tuition increase and property tax rate increase, a rush of people exited the room.    

The Audit, Budget and Finance Committee also recommended a rollover of $5 million saved in fiscal year 2010 to close the fiscal year 2011 gap.   

Snyder explained that this was to offset the additional expenses in fiscal year 2012-13 from the 10 percent cut in state funding costing the district $15 million.   

After the presentation, Rindfuss questioned taking money out of the district's savings or fund balance.   

Snyder assured the board that if the committee gets the rollover approval, they wouldn't tap into those funds again.

District 6 trustee Gene Sprague explained that the district has to be responsible in maintaining the fund balance.

"I don't want to continually dip into it, but I think it's almost irresponsible to not use the past year's savings to get through this area. It's a rainy day."   

Rindfuss questioned the lag time between the money going out and coming in. "You don't know what time the funds are coming in. How are you going to pay bills?"   

The 2010-11 budget approved includes projected revenues of $424,206,712, restricted and plant fund balance commitment of $47,459,496, operating fund balance commitment of $5,000,000, and expenses of minus $506,666,208. The rollover expenses were included in the budget approval.   

Another new topic discussed was the motion to approve a fee for nonstudents to use wellness centers at the Alamo Colleges to generate revenues of $50,000 in fiscal year 2011.

Rindfuss questioned how these fees would be established. "Would they be competitive with the regular market?"

Snyder responded that her committee would meet in October to have an additional discussion, do research and determine the fee.