HUTTO – Brandon Bozon, Temple College vice-president of Administrative Services and chief financial officer, presented a budget to the Hutto Independent School District board of trustees designed to raise an additional 18% in tax revenue for Fiscal Year 2024.
“The original focus was on just funding the maintenance and operations of the center. We have reached that point where those items are covered by the tax. Last year, we removed the additional fee that was paid by students to help support the center because the tax revenue was enough to offset that,” said Bozon.
A memorandum of understanding has existed between Hutto ISD and Temple College – Hutto since 2011 to allow the district to levy a Branch Campus Maintenance Tax on behalf of the community college and pass the proceeds on to the East Williamson County Higher Education Center in Hutto. Temple College is authorized by the Texas Education Code to tax a maximum rate of 5 cents per $100 of valuation.
The tax is meant to pay for maintenance and operations. With a new MOU approved by the trustees Aug. 10, the reserve can now also be used for programs, services and campus growth.
“This is a tax specific to Hutto ISD that supports the programs and services here at the Hutto center,” Bozon said. “The BCMT is anticipated to fully fund maintenance and operations in fiscal year 24.
Tax in excess of maintenance and operations costs may be used to support instruction, programs and services. Tax in excess of programs and services may be used for future funds. It is the only revenue fund for future improvements to Temple college on this site.”
The East Williamson County Higher Education Center's master plan includes adding 13 new buildings at the site as the area grows. They are currently housed in a single building.
The CFO presented a budget based on maintaining the same tax rate as Fiscal Year 2023, $0.03832. That is higher than the no new revenue rate of $0.0355610. It equates to an average of $131.26 tax per household.
The new budget totals $3,457,683 with $553,695 listed as a contingency/reserve fund. The total is $527,683 more than the FY 23 budget of 2,910,000, an increase of 18% “We typically adopt a budget based off of the function. This is my first time seeing this kind of reserve contingency fund where it doesn’t seem like this money is for something,” said board member James Matlock.
Since the board did pass the amended MOU, Bozon said he would return at the Aug. 24 board meeting with a breakdown of how those funds are planned to be spent.
Approval of the budget will be voted on at the board’s Sept. 14 meeting.
According to statistics presented, 58% of the students enrolled at the Hutto center in the current semester live in Hutto ISD.
In-district tuition for traditional students is $125 per credit hour or $200 if they aren’t residents of Hutto ISD. Dual-credit students pay $66 per credit hour in-district or $99 out-of-district, though that price is expected to decrease with upcoming legislative changes.
