Petitions for annexation circulates in central Texas

Several communities within the ACC service district are in the process of petitioning signatures that, if enough are collected, would allow them to vote to be included in the ACC taxing district. Often when discussing raising taxes, people cross their arms and immediately decide that it is a bad idea, no matter what. It is important that voters stay open minded to the possibility of an ACC presence in their community, and realistic about what annexation would actually mean for them.

The North Hays Effort, which is a collaboration between Buda and Kyle, and Bastrop ISD, Elgin ISD, and McDade ISD independently, have all been petitioning for signatures, and the San Marcos ACCess coalition officially kicked off a petition drive on Feb. 25.

Those against annexation have expressed concern over the new property taxes that would be in place if they joined the ACC taxing district.  Right now the there is a 9.46 cents tax per $100 of assessed property value, which is just under a $100 dollars for residents who own a $100,000 home.

One of the things that appear to be of great concern to some of the residents in these areas is that the taxing rate could legally be raised to 50 cents per $100 of property. That's right around $500 a year for a $100,000 home.

That's a huge difference, and those numbers would be frightening, except that the average tax rate in Texas for community colleges is around 15 cents per $100 and ACC has always been competitive in this area. There is absolutely no reason to believe that ACC would have a need to raise their taxes that dramatically, and the taxes can't be raised without the voters' consent.

There is also concern with the actual interest that students in these communities would have with attending ACC. Right now there are not a lot of students coming from these areas, but if the tuition went down from the $137 per credit hour out-of-district rate, to the $39 in-district rate, and a campus was available within the community, students would be more inclined to enroll.

This would not take away from students who would otherwise be in four year universities, but rather help create a bridge into higher education that those not ready or not interested in a university education currently don't have.

The decision to join the ACC taxing district is not a small one, and it should be weighed carefully by the voters in all the communities that are interested, but unrealistic predictions about non-existent sky-high taxes shouldn't scare anyone away from what could be a good opportunity to make central Texas a more educated and more prosperous place.