After hearing a presentation from Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Mott in June and voting to approve the tax rate in September, the Lone Star College System board of trustees adopted the ad valorem tax rate of $0.1078 per $100 valuation at the Oct. 4 board meeting.

Mott said this is the third year in a row that LSCS has adopted this rate. After the growth in assessed values from 2015 sat at 11.6 percent—a significantly high percentage, according to Mott—LSCS began slowly lowering the tax rate because of the steady growth in assessed values.

"It lowers our tax revenue, but because of the growth in assessed values, we can do that and still be growing," Mott said in an interview.

The growth in assessed values declined to 3.6 percent this year, but Mott said this is indicative of a more long-term growth rate rather than a short spurt of growth.

Mott said she also presented the last monthly financial report for fiscal year 2018, and LSCS had a goal to reach 17 percent in cash reserves, but they ended at 19 percent. LSCS has $66 million in cash reserves, which is what Mott calls "a savings account for the Lone Star College System" that has been utilized for emergencies, including LSC-Kingwood recovery from Hurricane Harvey.