2008 Woodie Awards
Small tax increase causes lack of interest in public hearing, chancellor says
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 8/15/08 at 4:07 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:03 PM CST
What happens when a public hearing is conducted and no one shows up? Thursday, the board of trustees had its first of two public meetings to give the public a change to voice their opinions about a proposed tax increase.
The next public meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21 and the board is scheduled to vote on the tax proposal Sept. 4.
The tax increase, proposed during the board's Aug. 5 Audit, Budget and Finance Committee meeting, would increase the property taxes paid annually for a $100,000 house by $1.31 - from $134.55 to $135.86.
The proposed tax increase is 0.135855 percent.
This level of increase, Chancellor Bruce Leslie said, is the likely reason for the lack of interest from the public.
"It's hard for me to conjecture whether they're disinterested or satisfied, unless they show up and speak to us," Leslie said. However, he suspects the lack of interest was because "the impact is very, very small."
This was expected by all board members, and Leo Zuniga, associate vice chancellor of communications, said beforehand that no one shows up to these meetings and predicted it would last only a few minutes.
Indeed, the meeting was officially called to order by board Chair Denver McClendon at 6:01 p.m. and, after roll was called and all of the other formalities gone through, ended at 6:04 p.m.
"Since I've been here, we've never had anyone come to any of these hearings," said Leslie, who has been with the district since November 2006.
Leslie, who was previously chancellor at the Houston Community College System, said this is also the norm at other colleges he has dealt with.
The board was able to meet quorum with five members called to the roll.
Along with McClendon, the other trustees present were District 1 trustee Bernard Weiner, District 5 trustee Roberto Zárate, District 7 trustee Charles Conner and District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel.
District 3 trustee Anna Bustamante showed up just after the meeting was called to a close.
When asked if she was ready to mount a defense of the tax proposal, she said, sarcastically, "Yeah, right."
The next public meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21 and the board is scheduled to vote on the tax proposal Sept. 4.
The tax increase, proposed during the board's Aug. 5 Audit, Budget and Finance Committee meeting, would increase the property taxes paid annually for a $100,000 house by $1.31 - from $134.55 to $135.86.
The proposed tax increase is 0.135855 percent.
This level of increase, Chancellor Bruce Leslie said, is the likely reason for the lack of interest from the public.
"It's hard for me to conjecture whether they're disinterested or satisfied, unless they show up and speak to us," Leslie said. However, he suspects the lack of interest was because "the impact is very, very small."
This was expected by all board members, and Leo Zuniga, associate vice chancellor of communications, said beforehand that no one shows up to these meetings and predicted it would last only a few minutes.
Indeed, the meeting was officially called to order by board Chair Denver McClendon at 6:01 p.m. and, after roll was called and all of the other formalities gone through, ended at 6:04 p.m.
"Since I've been here, we've never had anyone come to any of these hearings," said Leslie, who has been with the district since November 2006.
Leslie, who was previously chancellor at the Houston Community College System, said this is also the norm at other colleges he has dealt with.
The board was able to meet quorum with five members called to the roll.
Along with McClendon, the other trustees present were District 1 trustee Bernard Weiner, District 5 trustee Roberto Zárate, District 7 trustee Charles Conner and District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel.
District 3 trustee Anna Bustamante showed up just after the meeting was called to a close.
When asked if she was ready to mount a defense of the tax proposal, she said, sarcastically, "Yeah, right."
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