Austin Community College will wait until next year to consider calling a bond election to fund more than $400 million in major projects districtwide.
On Aug. 19, the district's board of trustees unanimously voted to announce its intention to hold a bond election in November 2014. The board has until August 2014 to do so.
The decision marks a pivot for the district, which prior to the meeting had been entertaining the earlier option of holding the election this November.
Waiting a year could increase voter turnout, trustees reasoned, since ACC would share the ballot with the first Austin City Council members elected to the new 10-1 voting districts, as well as several statewide races.
Trustees said the district should do more public engagement, consider reducing the size of the bond package and complete its academic master plan before calling a bond election.
The plan is the district's blueprint for future programs and will guide growth, according to Neil Vickers, ACC's vice president for finance and budget.
Trustee Allen Kaplan called the plan "absolutely key to where this college is going to go."
"As I understand, it will be completed in October, and we need to digest things and see how that informs what we eventually put on the ballot," he said.
Trustee John-Michael Cortez said at the Aug. 19 meeting that the board's decision to wait a year should not be taken as a statement about the work of ACC staff or the board's opinion on the recommended bond projects.
"As I've mentioned a couple of times, even beyond the 11 [identified top priorities], we need all of these things," he said. "I think [the board's decision] is a reflection of a pretty well-thought-out, conceived understanding of where the community is."
ACC started meeting with faculty, staff, students and the greater community in 2009 to discuss a possible capital improvement program. The district has held 358 such meetings to date.
In March, the district formed a 25-member Bond Program Advisory Committee to assist in preparing for a bond election. The committee met from April to June and was asked to review the district's planning documents and study its stated priorities, according to a news release.
Those priorities include increasing access to higher education, increasing student success, meeting the needs of the workforce, achieving institutional excellence and increasing community outreach and collaboration, the release said.
In June, the committee delivered a list of the top 11 priorities to the board for districtwide improvement projects, including renovations at ACC Highland and other campus expansions. The draft list totaled $499 million in upgrades.
At the Aug. 19 meeting, trustees said that community engagement was key to a successful bond election. In the months ahead, the district plans to reach out to various chambers of commerce, community groups, the media and other stakeholders to increase public awareness about the bond.
Also at the meeting, Mary Hensley, the district's executive vice president of college operations, presented two smaller bond packages, totaling roughly $448 million and $475 million, for consideration.
Hensley said ACC staff strongly encouraged the board to ask for the larger amount to be able to fully fund all of the district's priorities without compromising projects.
The board has taken no action on either package, and project totals may change before a November 2014 election, Vickers said.
Additional reporting by Lyndsey Taylor
