Committee recommends tax hike

A tax increase that would add $10.85 to the average home valued at $144,161 was unanimously approved by the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday to be recommended to the Alamo College’s board of trustees.

The recommended combined tax rate of $0.149150 per $100 of property value is less than eighth-tenths of a cent increase from the current combined tax rate of $0.141623.

At the July 11 board budget retreat, Diane Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, told trustees that a tax increase is necessary to establish recurring revenues to counter state funding declines that are expected to drop from 22 percent to about 12 percent over the next 10 years.

The combined tax rate of $0.149150 includes a maintenance and operations tax rate of $0.104400 and the debt levy tax rate of $0.044750.

The combined tax rate is higher than the combined effective tax rate of $0.142231, but lower than the combined rollback rate of $0.151457. The rollback rate is the rate at which taxpayers can petition for an election to lower property taxes.

Snyder said 2012 tax appraisals for Bexar County declined slightly from the prior year.

The average taxable value of a home last year was $144,523. The average taxable value of a home this year dropped to $144,161.

At the July 24 regular board meeting, trustees voted on a projected maintenance and operations tax rate of $0.105359, which would result in operating tax revenues of $103.6 million.

Snyder said that the recommended lower maintenance and operations tax rate of $0.104400 would result in estimated operating tax revenues of $103.1 million.

District 5 trustee Roberto Zárate, committee chair, said he was satisfied that the new recommended rate had a lower impact on the taxpayer.

The projected tax rate increase approved at the July regular board meeting had an annual increase of $12.22 on the county’s average home.

Snyder said because the combined tax rate is above the combined effective tax rate, two public notices and two public hearings are required before the final approval of the tax rate Sept. 18.

The two public hearings are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 30 and Sept. 11 in Room 101 of Killen Center, 201 W. Sheridan.

At Tuesday’s regular board meeting, trustees will vote on the committee’s recommendation for the tax increase to post on notices for the public hearings.

In other news, the committee unanimously approved a recommendation changing the date the district will begin offering $200 garage-only parking permits to fall 2013.

The parking permits are designed to guarantee a parking spot in garages at district colleges and were scheduled to be sold Jan. 1.

“I think this is a very prudent move,” Zárate said.

Snyder said the permits needed to be adopted in the fall because only this college’s garage would be available for the spring.

By August 2013, a total of 2,750 parking spaces will be available throughout the district’s three garages — one at Northwest Vista and two at this college.

The new type of parking permit was proposed to help fund the $15 million parking garage as part of a public/private partnership between this college and the Tobin Hill Neighborhood Association.

The increase in parking permits will provide $320,625 annually.

The parking garage will have 961 parking spaces, of which 369 spaces will be available for students during the day and commercial use at night. The other 592 will be reserved for residents and commercial use.

In other news, the Policy and Long-Range Planning Committee tabled job descriptions for full-time faculty and vice presidents of academic success until the Sept. 11 committee meetings.

Chancellor Bruce Leslie recommended the committee adopt a single policy that includes job descriptions for chancellors, presidents, vice presidents and faculty, rather than having individual policies for each job description.

District 7 trustee Yvonne Katz asked if the job descriptions needed to be approved immediately for the fall semester.

Leslie said there was no “time crunch” because the old job descriptions are still operational.