CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Del Mar College's Board of Regents considered the potential impact of a 500 percent property appraisal increase of two refineries on Friday: Valero Energy and Flint Hills Resources.
"There is definitely a level of concern," Carol Scott, president of the board said. "It's too early to tell what the final impact will be."
As 6 Investigates reported Thursday, Del Mar College is among those who face budget shortfalls due to uncollected tax revenue from these refineries.
That expected deficit stems from laws governing how the tax rate is calculated. It also means every property taxpayer in Nueces County will see their tax rate drop this year, before skyrocketing next year.
Nueces County officials say they expect to be unable to collect $30 million in tax revenue, a third of the taxes it collects annually.
Mark Escamilla, president of Del Mar College said that the college does not yet have a firm number on how much its budget may be impacted, but that he had directed staff to prepare those numbers by Wednesday.
"We're shifting gears, everyone thought this was a 4th of July weekend, but it's a number-crunching weekend," Escamilla told 6 Investigates.
Escamilla also echoed the words of Nueces County officials.
"It's unprecedented; a novel situation," he said. "Certainly since I've been here, I haven't seen anything remotely close to this. This is an anomaly in every sense of the word."
Friday, the board voted to support any potential legislative fix and any legal options available to the college.
"Our legislative and legal approach is the best strategy," Escamilla said. "We're going to do everything we can to protect our community."
