OC Board Approves 2006 Budget

Sep. 1–The Odessa College Board of Trustees has approved the college’s budget for the upcoming year.

The board approved the budget and left its tax rate unchanged at 20 cents per $100 valuation on Tuesday night.

“Everything they voted on passed unanimously,” Cheri Dalton, OC’s media relations director, said. “The budget passed without any questions.”

Leaving the tax rate at 20 cents per $100 valuation means OC will see tax revenues increase 15.2 percent. The effective tax rate — the tax rate that would have brought in the same amount of money as the year before — would have been 17.36 cents per $100 valuation.

Any tax rate that raises tax revenue by more than 8 percent is subject to a rollback election.

“It should be noted, we did hold two required public hearings, and there was no one who attended,” Dalton said. “No one showed up for that.”

For 2005, the property appraisals in the OC district totaled $5,819,985,993 — an increase of $774,517,756 from the property appraisals in 2004.

The tax increase, which is solely due to the increase property values and increased mineral valuations, will bring in an additional $1.45 million for Odessa College in the next fiscal year.

The OC board also approved an electronic voting machine to be used in all of its future elections in Ector County.

The hospital board approved an interlocal agreement Aug. 2 to use the same system, and the county commissioners gave their approval July 26. All governmental entities using the systems must approve it.

Finally, the trustees approved an organizational chart for the 2005-’06 school year, Dalton said.

“That’s normal this time of year,” she said. “We’re coming out of summer and contracts are being renewed and new teachers are being hired.”

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