ACC Trustees certify annexation petition for Pflugerville ISD

The Austin Community College District (ACC) Board of Trustees certified a petition Monday night from Pflugerville ISD residents interested in putting an ACC annexation item on the ballot this November.

The Pflugerville Friends 4 ACC committee, composed of residents from the Pflugerville school district, was required to collect signatures from at least five percent of local registered voters in order for an annexation election to take place, per Texas Education Code.

The Pflugerville committee gathered 3,556 voter signatures, exceeding the required five percent of registered voters, or 2,710.

The next steps in the process are the publication of a Service Plan for the area, which lists the services and programs that ACC will bring to the community, and a public hearing for Pflugerville ISD residents. After that, ACC Trustees will call for a November election that will determine if those communities become part of the ACC District. Only registered voters within the area under consideration will be eligible to vote on the proposal.

Should voters decide to become part of the ACC District, Pflugerville ISD homeowners would pay a property tax currently set at $.1008 per $100 valuation. The total tax rate includes a maintenance and operations tax rate of $0.09 (which cannot be increased without voter approval). The college offers a standard $5,000 homestead exemption, and senior citizens and homeowners with disabilities receive an additional $150,000 exemption, for a total exemption of $155,000.

In exchange for paying the property tax, ACC district residents have access to more comprehensive programs and services as well as much lower tuition and fees. Currently, in-district students pay $85 per credit hour in tuition and fees, compared with $361 per credit hour for out-of-district students (effective 2018-19). Residents within the ACC District also are eligible to vote in elections of the ACC governing Board of Trustees.

Pflugerville ISD residents may learn more about the annexation and proposed service plan at a public hearing hosted by the ACC Board of Trustees on Monday, July 9, at 5 p.m. in Pflugerville. The hearing will be broadcast live on ACC Cable Channel 19 and rebroadcast on Cable Channel 19 at future dates to be announced later.

While ACC encourages communities to explore the benefits and costs of joining the district, the college does not advocate for or against any such initiative. The law does allow the college to respond to questions and provide facts about annexation; however, the decision on whether to join the ACC District rests solely with the voters within those territories. For more information about the annexation process at ACC visit austincc.edu/annexation.

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