BLINN BOARD APPROVES TAX RATE AT TUESDAY MEETING

  

The Blinn College Board of Trustees approved a tax rate of $0.0601 per $100 valuation during Tuesday night’s regular meeting.

The rate is almost identical to the $0.06 per $100 valuation Washington County residents paid in 2013, and will equate to approximately $60.10 in annual taxes on a $100,000 home. With the new rate, Blinn is expected to yield just under $1.8 million in revenue while maintaining the lowest tax rate in the state.

According to an economic impact study published in 2014, state and local taxpayers receive a 9.4 percent annual rate of return on their investment in the Blinn-Brenham campus. Property tax revenue pays for a portion of the Brenham campus’s $3.5 million facilities budget and by law cannot be utilized to fund campuses outside Washington County.

Trustee Stacey Aschenbeck defended the tax raising, saying that “times have changed and so has the state of education.”

Trustee Doug Borchardt, who was not present for the vote due to previous obligations, wrote the was in “total support of adopting” the rate, noting that his vote would not be official since he wasn’t present, but wanted his thoughts to be known.

Blinn hosted public hearings regarding the tax rate on Sept. 1 and Sept. 8.

Also presented to the Board were the Occupancy and Enrollment reports for the college.

The report showed that housing is 100 percent full with 1,322 students, up from 1,163 beds fill in the fall of 2014. This was due in part to a once-closed dorm being re-opened for use by fifty students.

The Board also approved the purchase of three new vehicles for the Blinn College Police Department. The vehicles will replace one vehicle that is currently leased and two vehicles that are not currently running and require major repairs. Two of the new vehicles will be housed on the Brenham campus, and one the Bryan campus.