The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 94, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 23, 2010 Page: 4 of 13
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Che Bastrop Sducrtiscr
OPINION
SATURDAY, JANUARY 23,2010 • PAGE A4
Letters to the Editor
Tax will be too much
Editor:
The following is a
summary of an email I
sent to Stephen B. Kin-
slow, president of Austin
Community College, sub-
ject, ACC incursion into
Bastrop County:
"Today's (01/18/10)
Austin American-States-
man carried a story of
ACCs plans for expan-
sion including a campus
(or two) in Bastrop Coun-
ty. The citizens of Bas-
trop County had already
been aware of the efforts
of certain self-appointed
leaders, including ex-
mayor Tom Scott and
realtor Kay Wesson, to
engage in a petition drive
to force the ssue to come
before the voters this
November. Apparently
they have succeeded. But
be advised, Mr. Kinslow,
there will be a strong
grass roots effort to stop
this ill-conceived ven-
ture.
The rank and file vot-
ers of Bastrop County are
already suffering huge
bond indebtedness creat-
ed by the construction of
new schools. Property tax-
es are at an all time high
while property values are
decreasing. The dismal
economic picture now fac-
ing us shows no sign of
abating for the foresee-
able future. We are in
the process of building an
extremely expensive new
high school not far from
the Bastrop-Travis Coun-
ty line. Many of us do not
understand why these fa-
cilities cannot be used by
ACC, negating the need
for another taxing entity
and the ultimate expense
of new facilities for ACC.
One other thought.
Bastrop County has only
a small fraction of the
personal and corporate
wealth of Travis County.
For this reason ACC has
been able to expand with-
out undue stress on the
taxpayers of that county.
The same situation clear-
ly does not exist here."
Norbert L. Simon
Jastrop
ounty does not
need more school
taxing entities
Editor:
I personally cannot
imagine why anyone
would sign a petition to
allow Austin Community
College to annex portions
of Bastrop County which
lie within the boundaries
of BISD. Austin Commu-
nity College is a taxing
district. If annexation
was approved by voters,
ACC would then be able
to levy taxes on all tax-
able property in this area
thus raising your property
taxes.
If you analyze the po-
tential money ACC would
receive, it appears that it
wants to annex Bastrop
County because it needs
an additional revenue
stream. In the fall of 2008,
ACC reported there were
701 registered ACC stu-
dents from all of Bastrop
County. However, only
425 of these registered
students were from the
Bastrop ISD area. No-
where do they report how
many of the 425 are full
time students. As many
Bastrop ISD high school
students can take ACC
classes, I would suspect a
good number of these stu-
dents have only registered
to take one or two classes.
According to BISD in
2008/09, the total tax-
able value of all property
n Bastrop ISD area was
$2,296,806,402. Poten-
tially ACC is looking at
tax revenue of around
$2,172,778. That's a good
reason for ACC to try to
annex Bastrop County.
That's $5,112 n tax rev-
enue per registered stu-
dent per year, no matter
how many classes they
attend.
According to ACC's
website in 2007/08, 56.1
percent of registered stu-
dents attending BISD were
economically disadvan-
taged. They make no men-
tion that, in most cases, if
these students choose to
attend college, they eas-
ily qualify for many gov-
ernment grants. These
grants would provide free
or partly subsidized edu-
cation without placing an
additional property tax
burden on their already
stressed parents.
A number of years ago
the City of Austin made
a similar attempt to an-
nex a good portion of Bas-
trop County. The citizens
of Bastrop County saw
through this attempt to
seize power and to con-
trol and tax the citizens
of Bastrop County. Resi-
dents worked tirelessly
around the clock to defeat
this annexation attempt
by Austin.
I know of no one that
wants to be controlled by
anyone or any entity out-
side our county. Bastrop
County has unique prob-
lems that are not faced by
Austin. We need to be able
to control our own future,
not be controlled by those
in Austin that apparently
care only about receiving
our money.
Dorothy Landoll
Bastrop
New taxes not
okay with reader
Editor:
I seem to remember
when ACC formed in Aus-
tin, they said they would
not build a campus, only
use AISD schools at night -
word broken. They said, I
believe, that the tax would
not be much - word broken.
It appears to me they nev-
er have kept their word in
the past, what makes you
think they will keep it for
Bastrop County?
I, for one, do not trust
them and will not vote for
them. No taxing author-
ity can be trusted to keep
their hands out of your
pockets. This tax, along
with the National Health
Insurance Tax that it
seems to me is coming our
way, is just too much.
Charles Matheson Sr,
Elgin
ty.
So, how come we can land these big
military transports full of troops
and vehicles, but they tell us Haiti's (
airport is too unsafe to land these
same planes filled with medicinal (
supplies, mobile hospitals, doctors,
food, shelter, water systems....I just
don't get it, bad! - i
Ummm...rm sure the government
son....
has a good ex
FranK Stewart
Help for Haiti
Bastrop Advertiser 1/20/2010
se tax dollars to explore options
Editor:
Last week there were
two published letters
supporting ACC, both
using the usual pro-ACC
subjective logic to justify
increased property taxes
of every homeowner in
the annexation district.
One of the letters even
categorized the debate
as "negative rhetoric."
Personally, I believe the
ability to actively debate
on issues regarding re-
source allocation of pre-
cious tax dollars is an
important process of our
democracy (if negative,
so be t). As a result, I
feel compelled to respond
to these letters. First,
anyone who wants to ex-
plore the well researched
and documented reasons
why we should not be an-
nexed is encouraged to
visit http://citizen.home.
texas.net/NoThank-
sACC/ .
Lately, the following
statement is a recurring
sound bite touted by
the proponents of ACC
annexation in their at-
tempt to get you to sign
the petition: "More high
school graduates and
older residents already
in the workforce would
be able to upgrade their
skills by taking advan-
tage of the lower in-
district rates and the
greater convenience of a
Bastrop-area campus."
This statement is mis-
leading and needs to be
challenged. Most work-
force development oc-
curs through certificate
programs, which cover
a great range of indus-
tries, including health
care and ITT to numer-
ous other in-demand
fields. Certificate pro-
grams are cheaper, effi-
cient, cost effective and
provide needed training
for workforce develop-
ment for both young and
old.
The ACC certificate
programs do not differen-
tiate between in-district
or out of district; it is the
same cost for everyone
(see http://www.austincc.
edu/ce/costs/). Here is
exactly what ACC has
on their continuing edu-
cation web site: "Out-of-
district fees do not apply
when registering for a
Continuing Education
course. All students reg-
istering for Continuing
Education courses are
charged the course tu-
ition/fees as published in
the current Continuing
Education Course Sched-
ule."
Concerning conve-
nience, we are a mere 30
or so miles away from any
campus; furthermore, it
is my belief that if you
are an academic student,
you will attend one cam-
pus for awhile, but you
will need to commute to
another campus based
on your major since one
campus can not possibly
cover all majors. Also,
one campus cannot pro-
vide all the available cer-
tificate programs.
Making every hom-
eowner pay higher taxes
at this point in time for
a campus in the Bastrop
area is wrong.
Essentially, if ACC is
voted in, you will be bur-
dened with higher taxes
as long as you own your
property for a campus we
do not need at this point
n time. Let's put our tax
dollars where we need
them and improve edu-
cational/career/employ-
ment opportunities for
our residents with more
viable programming and
other researched educa-
tion options.
Herb Goldsmith
Bastrop
Give ACC money directly to students
Editor:
I have serious issues
with a Jan. 16 letter to
the editor, "Tuition ben-
efits outweigh costs,"
submitted by Doug
Clark, Karen Halladay
and Tom Scott.
When did Mr. Scott
become concerned about
tuition costs for higher
education? Is it possible
he regrets being so di-
rectly involved in Texas
tuition deregulation?
He certainly facilitated
historic leaps in UT tu-
tions only a few years
ago. Now he apparently
rails against his own
handiwork as an excuse
to permanently raise our
^ "PUBLIC INSTI-
TUTION - PRIVATE
AGENDA, The Univer-
sity of Texas System's
Campaign for Tuition
Deregulation," is an
April 2004 report pre-
pared by a student or-
ganization, UT Watch.
It documents how Scott,
as a vice chancellor of
Governmental Relations
at UT, successfully lob-
bied Texas legislators
to relinquish control of
tuitions to UT's Board
of Regents in 2003. This
was about the same time
(according to last week's
letter) that the BEDC (a
creation of former Mayor
Tom Scott) and other
taxpayer-funded organi-
zations began working
n earnest to insinuate
ACC tax rates into Bas-
trop.
The UT Watch report
also cites that the first
year after Scott and a
handful of other well-
paid vice chancellor/
lobbyists successfully
shepherded tuition de-
regulation into law, UT
increased tuitions and
fees by a whopping 35
percent. An April 2008
overview of tuition de-
regulation by the Texas
Higher Education Coor-
dinating Board points
out that, between 2003
and 2008, resident un-
dergraduates' total tu-
itions more than doubled
(118 percent) at Scott's
alma mater, UT Arling-
ton - more than at any
other campus listed n
the report. UT Austin
came in second with a
104 percent ncrease in
the same five-year pe-
riod.
Last week's letter also
laments the relatively
high costs of ACC's out-
of-district tuitions, ignor-
ing that ACC absolutely
controls those rates. Ac-
cording to a Texas As-
sociation of Community
Colleges report n Febru-
ary 2009, ACC chooses to
maintain out-of-district
rates 60 percent higher
than the state average.
It only gets better.
On its Web site, Bas-
trop County Friends of
Higher Education (which
Bastrop County Clerk re-
cords show is an assumed
name for Tom Scott) says,
"ACC estimates that the
campus would open, in
2013, with a budget ex-
ceeding $8 million and
grow to almost $14 mil-
lion a year, by 2025."
Here's a much bet-
ter deal, fellow taxpay-
ers: For only $1 million
per year, Bastrop could
grant $5,000 in tuitions,
fees, travel expenses
and pizza to each of
Bastrop's 200 most de-
serving and needy high
school graduates (as-
suming we have that
many). By comparison,
this would save $7 mil-
lion in 2013 alone and
almost $13 million ev-
ery year by 2025.
Without question,
Bastrop sorely needs
better education con-
ditions, starting with
improved high school
graduation rates. While
I commend Mr. Scott's
efforts to see that some-
thing is done about high-
er education in Bastrop,
I have seen no compel-
ling independent data
to suggest that ACC is
the best solution to meet
those needs. Apparently
Smithville agrees.
For plenty of com-
pelling reasons to ques-
tion the efficacy of a
permanent property tax
increase to benefit ACC,
please visit: http://citi-
zen.home.texas.net/
NoThanksACC.
G.A. Lewis
voter@texas.net
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CONTINUED ON PAGE A5
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 94, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 23, 2010, newspaper, January 23, 2010; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252651/m1/4/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.