Elgin, Hays vote to join the ACC taxing district

The blind hatred of all government and taxes expressed nationally during the midterm elections trickled all the way down to the ACC annexation proposals when voters in San Marcos CISD, Bastrop ISD and McDade ISD voted not to join the ACC taxing district despite the college's comparatively low tax rate, and the clear benefit an ACC presence would have for students and for the economy in those communities.

The red tide of tea party anger and distrust washing over the country has caused Central Texas to miss an opportunity for more education, more jobs, and more opportunity.

On the list of arguments made against annexation, a new property tax was the strongest spot of contention. Once part of the ACC taxing district property owners agree to pay a total tax rate of $0.0951 cents per $100 assessed property value. This rate is .0549 less than the average Texas community college tax rate.

There seemed to be a concern that the tax rate would forever be increasing, but the current ACC tax rate is actually lower than it was in 2006.

While a new property tax is a burden, a new community college in these communities would have provided an affordable education option for students, and would have been a stimulus for the local economies.

A 2005 Texas Comptroller's report stated that "every dollar spent on community and technical colleges generates an additional $2 in economic activity, for a total annual impact of $633 million."

Instead of bothering to consider the positive influence of having a community college in their neighborhood, voters seemed to act out of a narrow self interest and misinformation.

A columnist, Darryl Jamail, in the Hays Free Press even went so far as to say that he'd rather not join the ACC taxing district because he was fine with paying higher tuition for his kids to attend community college if it meant he wouldn't pay a property tax forever.

He didn't want to pay a tax forever when his family was only be using the services of ACC for a few years. He, and many others, missed the point. It's about paying a little extra to live in a more educated, more successful, more prosperous community. ACC delivers on that regardless of whether or not you and yours are actually attending classes.

In fact, a 2002 study released by the Texas Association of Community Colleges found that "returns far outweigh the costs, particularly when a collection of social savings is included in the assessment." The study also states that taxpayers will "recover all investments in 8.2 years."

The benefits to the local communities were laid out many times, but those opposed to annexation seemed to think that it was all some sort of nefarious plot by ACC to profit off the tax dollars from the new districts.

It was not the ACC administration that decided to try to annex these school districts. It was the Texas Legislature that drew the ACC service area, and it was local groups in these five communities who approached ACC about annexation.

The annexation issue will come up again, not because the college administration has any personal desire to grow the tax base, but because it's part of ACC's mission to provide affordable education to central Texas. Hopefully voters won't pass up on such a good opportunity again.