— Austin Community College District has entered into a contract for 72 acres in San Marcos, including 21 acres to be purchased by the college and 51 acres that will be donated to ACC, district officials said this week.

The contract is contingent upon annexation of San Marcos CISD into the ACC District.

SMCISD residents will vote on the proposed annexation in November.

If annexation is approved, ACC will pay $2.28 million for the property located on SH-123 in Phase 2 of the Cottonwood Creek development owned by Randall Morris Interests.

The 51 acres to be donated to ACC are also owned by Randall Morris as part of the Cottonwood Creek development.

“ACC's Master Plan calls for building a comprehensive campus in San Marcos, and acquiring the land now is a smart strategy,” ACC President/CEO Steve Kinslow said. “It allows us to proactively plan for growth in order to continue meeting the wide-ranging educational needs of our 8-county, 7,000-square mile service area.”

In addition to San Marcos, ACC's recent land-banking efforts include acquisitions in Bastrop, Elgin, Kyle, Leander and north central Austin, totaling $35.4 million.

Ben Ferrell, ACC’s executive vice president for finance and adminstration, said, “The main benefit of land banking is that you’re ready to go when annexation passes.”

“We expect enrollments to grow based on state demographers’ numbers,” he said. “So we ask ourselves, ‘Where do we need to be to serve students?’”

ACC's Master Plan also includes the construction of campuses in Hays CISD, Bastrop ISD and Elgin ISD. Like voters in San Marcos CISD, residents of Hays CISD, Bastrop ISD, Elgin ISD and McDade ISD are currently considering joining the ACC District.

Only registered voters within each area will be eligible to cast a ballot in their community's election Nov. 2.

Other areas in the taxing district include the city of Austin and the Austin, Manor, Del Valle and Round Rock independent school districts.

ACC officials said if voters approve annexation, the new property taxes residents pay will support the construction and operation of a local campus.

If the annexation passes, property owners who are eligible to vote in SMCISD will see a tax increase of 9.46 cents per every $100 of assessed property value.

According to ACC, the district offers a standard $5,000 homestead exemption, and senior citizens and homeowners with disabilities would receive an additional $105,000 exemption.

The new property taxes would go on tax rolls in January 2011, but taxes are not collected until January 2012.

The published service plan for ACC lists benefits that include: in-district residents would be eligible to vote in ACC board of trustee elections, have access to full student support services and a college campus in San Marcos.

District residents pay in-district tuition that is currently $39 per credit hour, compared with $137 per credit hour for out-of-district tuition.

Tuition becomes in-district for SMCISD immediately following annexation approval.

Ferrell said “nothing happens” if the annexation is not approved by voters because everything is dependent upon the annexation measure passing.

He said that ACC has already started working with architects to design the proposed campus in San Marcos because typically when a community becomes interested in annexing, ACC will go ahead and get the land under contract and start designing the campus before annexation. “It will be an interesting November,” Ferrell said.

All previous ACC annexation efforts that have gone to a vote have been successful, district officials said.