BLINN BOARD APPROVES INCREASED TAX RATE, HEARS PRELIMINARY FALL ENROLLMENT REPORT

  

The Blinn Board of Trustees on Tuesday adopted an increased property tax rate and received a report on preliminary fall 2024 student enrollment.

The new rate of $0.0421 per $100 valuation is up from the previous rate of $0.0363 and falls just under the voter approval rate of $0.042241. 

With the new tax rate, Washington County taxpayers will pay approximately $42.10 in annual taxes per $100,000 of home value, versus $36.30 per $100,000 of value with the old rate.  It will generate an additional $320,008 in revenue compared to the no-new-revenue rate of $0.036595. 

Tax dollars make up 2 percent of Blinn’s annual operating revenue, with 72 percent coming from tuition, fees and auxiliaries and the remaining 26 percent coming from state funding.  Property tax revenue is required by state law to support operations within the taxing district; in Blinn’s case, all property taxes support the Brenham Campus.

Click here to view a breakdown of Blinn's tax rate, as provided by the College.

Vice Chancellor for Student Services Dr. Becky McBride presented trustees with initial enrollment figures for the fall 2024 semester, which is still onboarding students with late-start terms.  Districtwide enrollment as of September 10^th is 17,744 students, down from fall 2023 numbers of 17,963 and marking a 1.97 percent decrease in student contact hours.

Enrollment includes 5,106 students at the Bryan Campus, down 18.19 percent from last fall; 4,328 students at RELLIS, up 13.39 percent; 3,593 online students, down 0.47 percent; 2,550 high school dual credit students, up 19.33 percent; 1,967 Brenham Campus students, down 7.17 percent; 71 Schulenburg Campus students, up 20.34 percent; 34 students on the Sealy Campus, down 17.07 percent; and three students on the Waller Campus, up from one when the College first began offering evening classes at Waller ISD’s W.C. Schultz Junior High School. 

Dr. McBride noted that the Waller Campus enrollment does not account for over 200 students who are taking dual credit classes in Waller, and it will likely take a year before the College sees higher enrollment there.

Trustee Dr. Dennis Crowson called the declining enrollment at the Bryan Campus “extremely discouraging and worrisome”, mentioning how much the College was putting toward the new administration building project there.  He asked if there was any way to potentially move programs from RELLIS to the Bryan Campus. 

Dr. McBride said Texas A&M’s College Station campus has continued to increase its own enrollment over the years, which directly impacts the Blinn-Bryan location, and multiple four-year colleges across the state are taking on their largest freshman classes ever.  She said the College has heavily emphasized student outreach by making over 1,000 phone calls to contact previously enrolled students, stating that many of those students brought up lifestyle changes like having children or needing to take on jobs instead of going to school.

Trustees also received an update on housing at the Brenham Campus for the fall semester.  Dr. McBride reported 1,440 beds filled out of a capacity of 1,764 for an 82 percent occupancy rate.  The rate is the same as what the College reported for the fall of 2023, though the number of beds leased and the total number available were greater at 1,610 and 1,953, respectively.  The drop in beds is due to the demolition of four old residence halls this summer.