PJC Board of Regents proposes lower tax rates, adopts budget

Published or Revised January 13, 2017

Monday evening the Paris Junior College Board of Regents voted to approve a proposed property tax rate of .1773. A reduction from the previous year's rate of .1875, the proposed rate will be presented for formal adoption at the September meeting. The board also voted to revised PJC's district service plan upon receiving updated property tax valuation rolls from the five counties served by PJC, lowering the proposed tax rate from ten cents to eight and a half cents per $100 of appraised value. That means for a property valued at $100,000 the annual rate would be $85 or $7 a month. For a property valued at $50,000, the annual rate would be $42.50, or $3.54 a month. By separate votes, the Board approved orders for elections on Nov. 8, 2016 to annex the college district's statutory service area in Delta, Hunt, Lamar, Red River, Hopkins, and Fannin counties. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2016-2017 of $36,767,264 was approved. The $1 million increase over last year's budget is largely in Pell grant funding because the federal government is expected to bring back Summer Pell. This is pass-through funding. There is also a one-time increase in state funding of $175,000 for the new system-wide computer management software. In other business, the Regents:

• Received the monthly financial statements from Comptroller Keitha Carlton showing PJC continues to be in a good position and is preparing for the year-end audit.
• Approved a policy requiring a property deposit fee of zero. Procedures to collect damages for destruction of property continue to work well.
• Accepted the Certified Tax Rolls of $1,672,223,786 for property taxable by Paris Junior College, as presented by the Lamar County Chief Appraiser.
• Approved the promotion of Clay Cox from assistant to head Baseball Coach and Kinesiology Instructor; the hiring of Judith Baxley as Associate Degree Nursing Instructor, Brad Bolton as Emergency Medical Services Instructor, James Dawson as part-time Athletic Director, April Lane Hartman as Softball Coach and Kinesiology Instructor, Dr. Michael Holderer as Music Instructor, Ryan Jarrell as Computer Information Systems Instructor, Melanie Miles as Cosmetology Instructor, Richard Miller as Physics Instructor, Dr. Pamela Millsap as Vice President of Student Learning (effective Sept. 26), Necah Posey as Cosmetology Instructor, and Jeri Thornton-Dulaney as PJC-Sulphur Springs Director; and the resignations of Physics Instructor Jonathan Belew, Baseball Coach/Athletic Director Deron Clark, Upward Bound Advisor Amber Musgrove, Educational Opportunity Center Advisor Dereck Owens, and PJC-Sulphur Springs Director Dr. Phil Williams.