The Lone Star College System board of trustees voted to approve a preliminary 2015-16 budget for adoption at an Aug. 6 meeting. The budget—which includes funding for 70 new full-time faculty positions and a two percent raise for all full-time employees—is set to be officially adopted at the board’s Sept. 3 meeting.

“Our goal is to get to a 50-50 ratio of full-time to part-time faculty,” LSCS Chancellor Steve Head said. “Right now we’re at about 40 percent full-time, so this brings us closer.”

The board approved the budget almost unanimously. Trustee David Holsey voted against it, citing a preference to set a net effective tax rate. A net effective rate would ensure that no taxpayer in the LSCS service area pays more in taxes through a measure that lowers the rate in accordance with increases in assessed property values.

“Without a net effective rate, the taxpayer pays more if the property value goes up,” Holsey said. “I’m struggling with that because my interpretation of our bond was that taxes would not be raised. As a taxpayer, if I see that I am paying more money, I’m going to attribute that to the bond. A net effective tax rate would be my choice.”

Other trustees pointed out that, even though assessed values may rise for some taxpayers, LSCS is still keeping its promise to not raise the tax rate.

“There’s no deception in taxation on our part,” Trustee Ron Trowbridge said.

The actual tax rate will not be officially set until the budget is adopted. The rate will not be increased, but whether it will remain the same or slightly decrease will be determined after certified property values in the service area are finalized, LSCS Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Gilliam said.

Gilliam pointed out that maintaining the current tax rate, rather than adopting a net effective rate, gives LSCS more flexibility to potentially pay off several million dollars more of its bond debt.

The current tax rate, adopted in the 2014-15 budget, is 10.81 cents per $100 valuation. LSCS has lowered the tax rate each year for the past three years.

Financial reports show LSCS ahead on revenues and well within projected expenditures set in the 2014-15 budget. Through June 30—about 83 percent of the way through the fiscal year—LSCS brought in 92 percent of projected revenue while only spending 78.6 percent projected expenditures, the most recent report states.

Revenues and expenditures in the proposed 2015-16 budget are both set at $342.5 million. The biggest slice of revenue—student revenue—is expected to increase 3.7 percent due to enrollment growth. The budget does not include a tuition hike.

State allocations decreased for community colleges in the biennial budget passed in the 2015 legislative session, but the allocation for LSCS rose by $1.6 million to $74 million. Head said this was because LSCS enrollment continues to grow as other Texas community colleges experience enrollment declines.

“We’re the only ones in the Gulf Coast area that actually received additional funding,” he said. “This allocation was still about $5-$6 million less than we were anticipating when we went into the [legislative] session.”