Enrollment up, taxes to follow

Omaha homeowners already singing the property tax blues can soon warble a second sad verse, this one focused on Metro Community College.

Metro leaders are preparing to raise the college's property tax rate by at least 26 percent, an increase that the school's board is likely to approve at tonight's meeting, the college's president and board chairman both said Monday.

If passed, that hike would cost the owner of a $100,000 house nearly $18 in next year's tax bill.

Metro President Randy Schmailzl and Dave Newell, board chairman, said they feel bad about increasing the rate at the same time the city is expected to increase its tax rate nearly 10 percent.

But enrollment is ballooning, and they argued that a new state aid formula is costing Metro millions in state funding.

More students and less money mean school leaders can do little but increase the college's property tax rate, they said. That rate hasn't risen in six years.

“We're boxed in,” Newell said.

Metro will bring in about $5.5 million more if it raises its property tax rate.

To balance the budget, school leaders also plan to cut about $3 million in proposed scholarships, some of which would aid laid-off workers and others affected by the recession, the school president said. Another $500,000 in cuts might be needed as the fiscal year continues.

Metro leaders had expected an enrollment jump — recessions generally increase community college enrollment — but no one on campus expected 17,000 students to show up this fall, the president said.

That's 2,000 more students than attended the school in fall 2008, he said.

Newell said the school's financial situation is seriously damaged by the new state aid formula, which took effect this year after Metro leaders unsuccessfully campaigned against it.

The new formula shuttles more money away from Omaha and toward the state's smaller community colleges than the old formula did, Newell said.

It also sends more money to community colleges, such as Southeast Community College, that teach more vocational courses, such as welding.

In large part because of these changes, Metro's total state aid dropped from $23.4 million last year to $19 million this fiscal year, according to an internal financial report the school supplied.

“When you have an ... (enrollment) jump, and you lose $4 million in state aid, there's definitely something wrong here,” Schmailzl said.

A legislative task force is studying the community college formula, and Metro leaders are hopeful it will change in the years ahead.

But in the short term, Newell — previously a staunch opponent of property tax hikes — says he sees no way around this increase short of locking Metro's gates and turning students away.

“And the whole point is to try to educate students. That's why we're here,” he said.

Contact the writer:

444-1064, matthew.hansen@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share