The Austin Community College District Board of Trustees approved a $385 million budget for 2018-19.

The balanced budget represents a 9-percent increase over the 2017-18 budget.

The budget includes $2.1 million in new items. These expenses include a 3-percent cost-of-living raise for employees and increased funding for the college’s special populations and child care assistance programs. It also fully funds operations at the new San Gabriel Campus in Leander and expansions at Round Rock, Elgin, and Hays campuses as well as new construction projects such as the former women’s Dillards and a parking garage at ACC Highland.

Approximately 21 percent of the budget’s revenue comes from tuition and fees, a 2 percentage point decrease from previous years. Trustees voted in May to keep tuition and fee rates for in-district students unchanged for the 2018-19 academic year and to lower by $2 per credit hour the tuition and fees for out-of-district and out-of-state students. Trustees also voted to eliminate the $25 Green Pass fee. The vote means Capital Metro’s Green Pass will be available free of charge to eligible ACC students, faculty, and staff.

Property tax revenue is expected to generate more than half of ACC’s total revenue for the year while state appropriations represent 16 percent.

To offset rising property taxes, trustees voted to increase exemptions for seniors and homeowners with disabilities from $150,000 to $160,000, the largest exemption among taxing entities in Central Texas. ACC also has a standard $5,000 exemption for all homeowners, for a total exemption of $165,000 for seniors and those with disabilities.

The new budget is effective beginning September 1.

Tags: adopt budget, budet, exemptions, property tax, state appropriations, trustees, tuition and fees