The Austin Community College board of trustees could make a decision Aug. 19 about whether to call a Nov. 5 bond election.

At its Aug. 5 meeting, the board disagreed about ACC's readiness for a bond election in November.

"I think that we have not worked out this bond package sufficiently to know where we are going," trustee Tim Mahoney said. "We have no academic master plan in place. I would rather see an academic master plan guiding us instead of having the cart lead the horse, and I don't even see a commitment for doing that."

The board has until Aug. 26 to decide if it should place the bond before voters during the Nov. 5 election. Other dates the board could consider are May 10 or Nov. 4, 2014.

Board President Jeffrey Richard said ACC might not be ready to call a bond election and would like to receive more input from stakeholders before moving forward. However, trustees Barbara Mink and Nan McRaven said Nov. 5 is good timing for the bond election and that the college would have community support.

Trustee Allen Kaplan said he is tired of delaying the bond election because of other bond or tax elections that might be taking place simultaneously. He said the board has been working up to a bond election for six years.

"I'm just not sure what else we can do to be ready," Kaplan said.

Trustees also discussed the list of 11 priorities the bond program advisory committee recommended to the board June 17 and whether costs for some projects could be cut down. The top 11 priorities include renovations for various campuses and ACC's Highland Mall project, construction of the Leander campus and purchase of land for future campuses.

A revised list of priorities from ACC administration will be presented to the board Aug. 19. The meeting will also be one of two public hearings for the property tax rate. The second public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.