Written by Amanda Coers – Ranger College held a referendum at a Public Hearing on Tuesday, June 27th at 7 p.m. at the Ranger College campus located in Early. Ranger College officials, including Ranger President Dr. William Campion, Vice President Dr. Kerry Schindler, and Public Relations Officer Ryan Ronin, were on hand to answer questions from community members regarding a possible annexation election to bring Brown County into the Ranger College District, and the proposed property tax of $.011 to help fund the school’s expansion.
Pictured at top is Ranger President Dr. William Campion, who was quick to address the elephant in the room in his opening remarks.
“There are some ugly myths about what the tax rate will be,” said Dr. Campion. “Let me tell you, pure and simple, it’s 11 cents per 100 dollar evaluation. You will not inherit any debt from anybody else. And that’s what it is.”
Recently published articles on alternative news sources have led readers to believe a much higher tax rate could potentially be imposed. Dr. Campion did acknowledged the tax rate could potentially increase in future years as the board of regents sets the tax rate as part of their annual budget. The college president also explained that according to state law, taxes can only be raised three percent without holding a public hearing, and can only be raised 7.99 percent without triggering a tax roll-back election.
Ranger College must collect 1,400 signatures from registered voters in Brown County before the board of regents can call for an annexation referendum election for the November 2017 ballot. If Brown County voters approved the annexation, Ranger College have announced plans to renovate the former Bank of America building on Center Avenue into a new campus, expand their course offerings, and tuition for Brown County residents would be cut in half. Tuition would be reduced from $93 per credit hour to $50. Tuition rates for dual enrollment high school students would be reduced from $80 to $25 per credit hour, on top of the Pell Grants already available.
Dr. Campion added that at approximately four of the members for the board of regents would be elected from Brown County for representation of the area.
As the floor was yielded for remarks from the public. First to speak were several community members in favor of the proposed annexation.
Mayor of Early, Dr. Robert Mangrum spoke at the public hearing on Tuesday
“Many of you know, my day job is a professor of American History at Howard Payne University,” Mangrum said. “When Dr. Campion called and asked me to speak, I thought the thing to talk about is education.”
Dr. Mangrum quoted several historical figures who have made statements regarding the importance of education including words from Benjamin Franklin: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Courtney Smith, 2016-17 Early High School Valedictorian shared her experience with the dual enrollment program offered through Ranger College.
“Throughout my four years of high school I completed 42 hours, and a good majority of those were through the dual credit program at Ranger,” she said. “For me, that dual credit program was really important.”
Smith then explained her plans to attend Tarleton University to study music education next year. She credited Ranger’s program for high school students with helping her to complete most of her basic classes required for her degree beforehand, saving her both time and money.
Domingo Perez with Diamond P Enterprises told attendees that Ranger College helped train his employees for HAZMAT Certification, office skills training, and OSHA requirements , which enabled his company to fulfill a major contract.
“Education is something that should be valued,” Perez said. “My employees did not have that opportunity, but now they do. And they’ve become better employees. I want to thank Ranger.”
Currently, Ranger College provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in Workforce and Skills Development Grants to local employees and businesses, helping train workers either wanting to join the labor force or expand training to qualify for higher certification levels. Training programs provided by Ranger College include hazardous materials handling, OSHA, HVAC, nursing and cosmetology programs.
Robert Porter with Porter Insurance also echoed Perez’s statement about education producing better employees.
“Education is the lifeblood of a quality workforce, and we have to have a quality workforce in order to have economic development,” Porter said. “We’re blessed to have Howard Payne University, Ranger College, TSTC, to help us accomplish that education for a trained workforce.”
Many in attendance countered with their concerns regarding the potential tax increase and how that could affect fixed incomes.
“That tax would be essentially a dollar per hundred dollars, and no one in their right mind would question the value of education and the necessity, but asking every tax payer in Brown County to put this forward to higher education does seem a little heavy handed,” said Linda Schultz. “We have a lot of senior citizens, and we’re on a fixed income, and you’re looking at more taxes. This isn’t something I can get really excited about.”
The Service Plan for Brown County can be viewed online here: www.rangercollege.edu/serviceplan.pdf
Additional information about the proposed tax increase as well as the school’s tax rate history can be viewed here: www.rangercollege.edu/servicebrown.pdf
