Sep 24, 2019

Trustees for College of the Mainland voted unanimously to adopt a new tax rate of 0.00204254 for fiscal year 2019.  The new approved tax rate reflects a 4 percent decrease from the 2018 tax rate.  As a result, those in the college’s taxing districts could see a decrease in their annual property tax amount, depending on the appraised value of their property.  For example, a homeowner with a property valued at $200,000 would have a property tax in the amount of $326.81 for the year.  The college is not collecting taxes for the capital improvements the voters approved in 2018 until next year.

As enrollment at the college has increased by more than 11.6 percent over the last five years, trustees recently approved a budget of $36.9 million for the coming year, up 2.7 percent from last year.  Despite additional faculty, support staff and equipment needed to maintain its growth, the college has been able to maintain tuition costs because of efficient fiscal management.  Additionally, tax revenues generated by an increase in population and business growth more than offset the need to raise the tax rate.

“Our budget is sufficient to provide first-rate instruction for our growing enrollment,” said Warren Nichols, president of College of the Mainland.

College of the Mainland is one of only three community colleges in the state that has not increased its tax rate more than 2 percent throughout the last eight years.

According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the no new revenue tax rate enables the public to evaluate the relationship between taxes for the prior year and for the current year, based on a tax rate that would produce the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both years.

“I am very pleased we are able to fund these needs with no increase in taxes. It reflects the good stewardship of our Trustees and administration,” said Nichols.