Verde Valley officials say community college shortchanges local taxpayers

The Yavapai College District Governing Board approved its budget for 2023-24 at its meeting on May 16 at the Prescott campus.

Among the changes is a 5% increase in the community college’s primary property tax levy and a $12,725,000 increase in expenditures and capital expenses. The approved budget is $106.5 million, an increase of nearly 16% from the previous year.

“For the second time since 2018, the DGB approved an increase in primary property tax levy for Yavapai County residents,” the district said in a press release. “The approved increase is $2,553,300, or a 5% increase in the primary property tax levy. With the 5% increase, property owners in Yavapai County will pay an additional estimate of $7 in property taxes per $100,000 of home value.”

“We have about $10 million that we could ask for in property tax increases as needed for the college,” Clint Ewell, the college’s vice president for finance and administrative services, said at the meeting. “Over the past 10 years we have only asked for property tax increases two times. Even with the increase that we ask for today it will be a lower overall increase than what the average community college has asked for in Arizona, and it’s also lower than what our county has been asking for over the past decade.”

Capital expenditures increased after the college reduced its capital budget during the pandemic because of revenue uncertainties and while awaiting a 10-year update to its facility master plan from 2012. The district has been working with an architectural firm to update the plan. The largest increase in the college’s expenditures is towards its Capital [Plant] Fund, which, at $18 million, is nearly double the previous year’s allocation.

“Now those issues are behind us and we’re ready to start reinvesting in our facilities,” Ewell said.

Ewell said that Yavapai County’s community college’s mission is promoting affordable access to education and claimed it is working to keep costs for students below the national average because the median income in the county is 18% below the national average. The state of Arizona has some of the lowest property taxes in the country; according to Rocket Mortgage, Arizona’s property taxes are the 13th lowest in the country.

“In addition to the influx of retirees, the county is experiencing the same demographic shifts as the nation, with fewer high school-aged people due to lower birthrates during the last recession,” the college’s budget report stated. Vice President of Academic Affairs Diane Ryan, Ph.D., addressed two concerns from Verde Valley residents and claimed that there has not been a reduction of faculty numbers in the Verde Valley.

“We had budgeted for some adjunct faculty in the vice president of academic affairs, which also includes Verde Valley campus administration,” Ewell said. “What we decided to do is move some of the adjunct faculty budget out to the different schools within the college, where the assets are actually being used. When you look at that table and our budget, it looks like vice president of academic affairs, the number of positions went down 10. But in reality, those 10 positions were simply moved to different schools within academic affairs.”

Yavapai College is also working to bring fire science instruction back to the Verde Valley after alternating the instruction location with Prescott. However, in order to do so, 15 students and five qualified instructors must live in the area, while local enrollment has dropped below that threshold, Ryan said.

Public comments during the budget meeting largely focused on concerns with the inequitable distribution of Yavapai College services between Verde Valley and Prescott based on what residents pay into the district.

No residents spoke in favor of increasing the levy.

“I’m proposing that we get a focus group together [with the DGB],” Camp Verde Town Councilwoman Cris McPhail said. “To fill the gaps so that we can provide the educational services to our people or the people to the services and then that we can move forward with the college to earn the $2 million in taxes so that the people of the town can fully value the college and the college can fully value us.”

John Wichert, president of the nongovernmental Big Park Regional Coordinating Council nonprofit, asked if there has been a needs assessment of what Verde Valley residents are looking for from the community College.

“We have apparently 40% of the population. However, only about … 10% of the enrollment of the entire college, so the question is, why is that? It brings up a chicken and egg question: Is it because we don’t have the amount of enrollment that offerings classes and services are not being expanded on the Verde Valley side? Or is it because offerings are so limited that there isn’t the draw for students to enroll in the college?”

Ewell claimed that the college has tried to address the inequitable distribution of its tax dollars with local town councils and the DGB, while also denying that it would match its spending to its funding sources.

“If someone is expecting us to spend every dollar that [a Verde Valley resident] has contributed to the college through tax dollars back into the Verde Valley, no, that’s not happening,” Ewell said. “If you look at the amount of money that we’re spending on a per-student basis, both in our operating budget and in our capital budget, we’re spending more in the Verde Valley than we are elsewhere in the county. So I do think we are spending equitably.” 

The average cost per fulltime equivalent student in the Verde Valley, is $12,451, while on the west side of the county that cost is $11,490.

Ewell argued that when including the capital budget of buildings and associated costs, the college spends $18,894 on full-time equivalent students in the Verde Valley versus $14,093 on Prescott-area students. Ewell’s view that the Verde Valley is getting all it needs is not shared by Verde Valley residents such as former Governing Board member Robert Oliphant, who said the differences in the amount spent per student is irrelevant.

“If a building costs $5,000 and you have 20 students on one side and 30 on the other it’s going to cost more per student. That’s all,” Oliphant said. “We have lower enrollment than they have on that side. That explains the discrepancy. You’re always going to have lower enrollment until they do something to develop over here.”

President of the Beaver Creek Community Association Janet Aniol agreed with McPhail and opposed the tax increase. Aniol called for more local classes and expanding the college’s newly launched RV park at the Verde Valley Campus.

The community college is constructing 10 RV pads adjacent to its vineyard and will offer reduced rental rates to students and employees. Four will be equipped with furnished RVs that the college will rent out and six will be available to those who wish to park their own vehicle. The college expects to complete the project in time for the fall semester.

“We also are going to be renting 10 apartments in Cottonwood for use by our workforce as well, just to make sure that we have the stock available for folks who are moving into the area,” Ewell said.

The new budget also appropriates $3.5 million to workforce housing and includes similar projects on the Prescott side of the county, such as the purchase of 10 manufactured homes and the creation of efficiency apartments in Building 34 of the Prescott campus.

“It’s important to note that these tax dollars are an investment for the future, for our communities and workforce,” Ewell said. “We had a study done in 2021 that showed for every dollar that taxpayers are investing in the college, they’re getting about a $7 return on investment.”