Amarillo College board of regents set 2022-23 tax rate and budget
The Amarillo College Board of Regents approved their new tax rate for the 2022-2023 fiscal year Wednesday afternoon.
The changes made to the community college's tax rate allows the college to decrease its general operating fund while meeting its obligation to pay debt service on the voter-approved bond of 2019.
AC's new overall tax rate includes a half-cent decrease in the ad valorem tax rate, which sustains AC’s Maintenance and Operations (M&O or general operating) Fund. AC regents set the M&O rate at $0.15913, a half-cent less than a year ago, and it is reflected in the new overall tax rate for fiscal year 2022-23.
"We were able to drop our M&O a half cent from our current rate, and that will provide taxpayers with a little bit of a tax relief. On the Interest and Sinking (I&S) Fund, where we collect our yearly fund from bonds that have been issued like the $9 million bond issuant that was approved by voters in 2019, in the spring we issued the additional portion of those bonds, which was $58 million. In doing so, we had to increase our I&S rate to make the payments on that debt that was issued, so our I&S rate went up to $.0641," said Chris Sharp, AC's vice president of business affairs.
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With these adjustments, AC regents set the overall tax rate for the new fiscal year at $0.22323, or about 22 cents per $100 of assessed property value. This represents an increase of just over one cent from the previous year, when the tax rate was set at $0.21129.
With the new rate, owners of an average-value home in Amarillo will see an annual tax increase of approximately $56, which correlates with the college’s obligation by law to increase its I&S Fund to pay off the voter-approved $89 million bond.
In addition to setting the tax rates, the AC regents also determined the overall budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
"Like most higher education and school districts, our biggest cost is our payroll and benefits, so this year our budget includes a 3% raise for our employees both full time and part time, and everything else is about the same. We are not immune to inflation, so we had to adjust a few of the budgets for inflationary issues but otherwise our normal or usual budget," Sharp said.
In addition to the 3% raise, AC also implemented an increase to its minimum wage of $15 an hour for employees.
"This will make sure that our entry level, maintenance, and grounds people will start with something that we consider a living wage and help lessen the struggle that many are facing right now," Sharp said.
This minimum wage adjustment currently includes approximately 68 AC employees and will go into effect in November, with the 3% pay raise for AC employees to be implemented in January 2023.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo College board of regents set 2022-23 tax rate, budget
