Santa Cruz County voters created a community college district in 2000, but voted three times against a property tax to fund it.

Members of the county community college board take the oath of office. From left are Justin Dutram, James Clark, Jeffrey Cooper, Laura Zeinun and Marcelino Varona Jr. Photo / Denise Holley

This is costing the county – about $1.4 million in the current fiscal year, said County Manager Greg Lucero. The reason is that hundreds of county students attend community colleges in Pima, Cochise and other counties, he said. The state charges SCC “out-of-county tuition” and takes the money out of sales tax revenues it shares with the counties.

On Jan. 19, the county swore in a new community college board to make another run at establishing a tax for the district.

The new members are Jeffrey Cooper, Patagonia; James Clark, Tubac; Justin Dutram, Rio Rico; and Laura Zeinun and Marcelino Varona Jr., both of Nogales.

Zeinun was elected to the board in 2006, but Alfredo Velasquez, county superintendent of schools, appointed the others.

“All five of you have that enthusiasm – you embrace education,” Velasquez said.

Members elected Varona as board president and Zeinun as clerk.

“Keeping kids in our community to get educated is very important,” Varona said.

If local voters approve a property tax, the county will not build its own college, Lucero told the board members. It would continue its contract with Cochise College to offer classes in the 1904 Courthouse. The tax would pay for the contract – less than $200,000 a year.

What would change is that the state would no longer take the tuition funds and SCC would reap more shared tax revenues for its general fund, Lucero explained.

State law requires such an election on the third Tuesday in May, he said. The supervisors must call for the May 18 election by Feb. 17.

When voters approved the community college district, they set the maximum amount the levy would collect at $3,841,869, Lucero said. “A few months later, the voters said ‘no’ to a property tax.”

First the county asked voters for $1 per $100 of assessed valuation, then 97 cents and only 20 cents in the last election in 2004, Lucero said.

“After our fiasco, the state said it was crazy to have two elections,” he said. Instead, now it requires all the language on one ballot.

To pay for the contract with Cochise College, the county must raise about $200,000 from the property tax. This would mean setting the levy at 4 to 5 cents per $100, Finance Director Jennifer St. John estimated.

But it could go higher in the future, Lucero said.

With the sour job market, more adults are heading back to school, Lucero said. This is why the out-of-county tuition went up from $786,000 two years ago to $990,000 last year, he said. “This year, we’re getting billed for $1.4 million.”

Enrollment at the Cochise College Nogales/Santa Cruz County Center has grown steadily since it opened in 2003, said its director, Sue Neilsen. But the college is not asking for more money from the county because it is collecting more attendance funds from the state for each additional student.

“It’s a strange time to be taking this kind of risk,” Neilsen said. “It could be a wonderful thing or it could be a horrible thing.”

The election in May will follow a vote in March on a budget override for the Nogales schools, Lucero said. Before the budget process begins in June, county supervisors will also vote on creating a library district, an action that does not need to go to the voters.

If the voters say “no” again to the community college tax, Lucero would recommend terminating the contract with Cochise College, he said. This would affect some 500 students, mostly part timers, who attend classes at the college.

“We’re at a crossroads,” Varona said. “We could lose the whole deal.”