Verde Valley Officials Say Community College Shortage Costs Local Taxpayers

The Yavapai University School District Board of Trustees approved the 2023-24 budget at a meeting on May 16 at the Prescott campus.

Among the changes are a 5% increase in major property taxes for community colleges and a $12.725 million increase in expenditures and capital expenditures. The approved budget was $106.5 million, up nearly 16% from the previous year.

“For the second time since 2018, the DGB has approved a major property tax increase for Yavapai County residents,” the district said in a press release. “The approved increase is $2,553,300, or a 5% increase in major property taxes. will pay.”

“There is about $10 million in funding that can be requested for the property tax hikes that the university needs,” Clint Ewell, the university’s vice president for financial and administrative services, said at the conference. “In the last 10 years, we have only asked for property tax increases twice. It’s going to be less than the increase and less than the increase the county has requested in the last 10 years.”

Capital expenditure increased while the university cut its capital budget during the pandemic, citing revenue uncertainty, and awaiting updates to its 10-year facility master plan from 2012. The school district is working with a building company to update the plans.The biggest increase in university spending is on capital [Plant] The fund was $18 million, almost double the previous year’s allocation.

“We have now resolved those issues and are ready to start reinvesting in the facility,” Ewell said.

Ewell said the mission of Yavapai County’s community colleges is to promote affordable access to education, and because median incomes in the county are 18% lower than the national average, costs for students are lower than the national average. He claimed he was working to contain it. Arizona’s property taxes are among the lowest in the nation. According to Rocket Mortgage, Arizona’s property taxes are the 13th lowest in the nation.

“In addition to an influx of retirees, the county is also experiencing demographic changes similar to the rest of the country, with declining fertility rates resulting from the last recession leading to a declining high school population,” the university’s budget report said. It is stated. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Diane Ryan, noted two concerns from Verde Valley residents, arguing that the Verde Valley has not reduced its faculty numbers.

“We had budgeted some part-time faculty for the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, including Verde Valley Campus management,” Ewell said. “What we decided was to move part of the adjunct faculty budget to various schools within the university, where the assets would actually be used. It appears that the number of posts in the school has been reduced by 10, but in reality, those 10 posts have simply been transferred to other schools within the academic affairs.”

Yavapai University is also working to bring fire science teaching back to Verde Valley after alternating teaching locations with Prescott. But that requires 15 students and five qualified instructors to live in the area, but local enrollment falls short of that standard, Ryan said.

Public comments during the budget meeting focused primarily on concerns about the unfair distribution of Yavapai University services between Verde Valley and Prescott based on what residents paid the district.

No residents were in favor of raising the levy.

“I’m proposing to form a focus group. [with the DGB]said Camp Verde City Councilman Chris McPhail. “To raise $2 million in tax dollars so that we can provide education services to our townspeople, or to provide education services to those who receive education services, and so that our townspeople can fully appreciate our education services. It’s about closing the gap so that we can work together with the university to move forward for the betterment of the world.” The university and the university will appreciate us very much. ”

John Wichart, nonprofit chairman of the nongovernmental organization Big Park Regional Coordinating Council, asked whether a needs assessment had been conducted as to what Verde Valley residents would want from a community college.

“Obviously 40% of the population. But that’s only about 10% of the total university enrollment. The question is, why is that? It raises the chicken-and-egg question. Is the lack of expanded classes and services offered on the Verde Valley side due to low enrollment numbers, or is the offer so limited that students are being drawn to enter colleges? Is it because there is no

Professor Ewell said the university had tried to address the unfair distribution of taxes with the local town council and the DGB, but denied matching expenditures with funding sources.

“If someone expects us to spend all that dollar, [a Verde Valley resident] We’ve been pumping taxpayers back into the Verde Valley to donate to colleges, and that’s not happening,” Ewell said. “If you look at how much we spend per student, both on our operating and capital budgets, we spend more in Verde Valley than anywhere else in the county. I think.”

The average cost per full-time equivalent student in Verde Valley is $12,451, compared to $11,490 in the west side of the county.

Including the building’s capital budget and related costs, Ewell said the university spent $18,894 on full-time equivalent students in the Verde Valley, compared to $14,093 on students in the Prescott area. claimed. Ewell’s view that Verde Valley has everything you need isn’t shared by Verde Valley residents like former board member Robert Oliphant, who don’t care about differences in spending per student. said.

“If the building costs $5,000 and you have 20 students on one side and 30 on the other, the cost per student is even higher. That’s it,” Oliphant said. “Our enrollment numbers are lower than theirs. That explains the discrepancy. Enrollment numbers will always decrease until we make some progress here.”

Janet Aniol, president of the Beaver Creek Regional Association, agreed with McPhail and opposed the tax increase. Aniol called for more local classes and an expansion of the university’s new RV park on its Verde Valley campus.

The community college is building 10 RV pads adjacent to its vineyards and will offer discounted rental rates to students and employees. Four will be equipped with furnished RVs rented by the university, and six will be available for those who want to park their own vehicles. The university plans to complete the project in time for the fall semester.

“We also plan to rent 10 apartments in Cottonwood for employee use to ensure we have inventory available for people moving into the area,” said Ewell.

The new budget also appropriates $3.5 million for employee housing, with similar projects on the Prescott side of the county, including the purchase of 10 industrial homes and the construction of efficient apartments in Building 34 on the Prescott campus. contains the project.

“It’s important to keep in mind that these taxes are an investment in the future for our communities and workforce,” Ewell said. “A study conducted in 2021 found that for every dollar taxpayers invested in college, they were getting a return on investment of about $7.”