2020-21 Budget, 2% Tax Rate increase approved by Howard College Board
A public hearing for the 2020-2021 Howard College Budget was held Monday afternoon in the Fireplace Room on the Howard College campus. Hearing no public comment, as no attendees registered to speak, the Trustees closed the public hearing and moved into the regular meeting agenda.
After approving routine agenda items, the Board of Trustees moved into approval of the proposed 2020-21 fiscal year budgets and proposed tax rate.
After hearing a condensed breakdown of the proposed budgets, as it had been discussed and prepared from direction received during the budget workshop, heated discussion ensued as public comment was interjected before the vote took place.
The proposed budget for Howard College, including separate budgets for the Big Spring, San Angelo, and Lamesa campuses was set at $53.3 million which included the insurance money for the roof project that is meant to take place later this year. According to Dr. Cheryl Sparks, this would mean the Big Spring budget for next year would be less. The proposed SWCD budget was $6.7 million. The SWCD budget is not included in the Howard College budget, as it is a special item for Howard College with a separate budget. Howard College’s unrestricted budget was set at $32.4 million; SWCD’s unrestricted budget is $4 million. The combined Howard College budget and the SWCD budget do include both the restricted and unrestricted sides. The combined deficit budget for Howard College is $1.943 million.
According to Sparks, all four budgets were proposed and balanced for daily operations and included step raises for some staff according to tenure at the Budget Workshop. The budgets also included a 4% to 11% raise for several nonexempt positions that have been reappointed to increase their base salary. Also within the budget, some faculty positions have been frozen due to the altered state of the country with hopes to be able to fund them again at a later date.
“The debt rate was going to be going up regardless. That debt rate obligation was something that was approved back when our bond was approved in 2007. So, until that bond is paid off, we will have that be our debt. We’re asking the tax payers to pay more because of what’s happened with our debt rate which is based on a tax rate calculation worksheet” Dr. Sparks said.
At the Aug. 20 Budget Workshop, trustees considered increasing the Maintenance and Operation (M&O) rate to address deferred maintenance by 3%.