Taxpayers ‘have a right to know’ breakdown by campus centers

By Bob Belcher

State Rep. Byron Cook on Thursday said he has told Navarro College officials they need to provide more detailed financial statements of the operation of its campus locations in Corsicana, Mexia, Waxahachie and Midlothian.

Cook’s comments came in response to a question raised during Thursday’s “Navarro County Day in Austin,” a trip sponsored by the Corsicana/Navarro County Chamber of Commerce. Cook was meeting with members of the Navarro County contingent when the topic of Navarro College was raised, in light of several recent Daily Sun opinion page submissions by local columnist Joe Hazewski and responses submitted on behalf of Homer Wasson, college board chairman.

At issue is how the college funds its campus locations outside of Navarro County. The college collects ad valorem property taxes in Navarro County to help fund the college, but other jurisdictions have voted down paying ad valorem taxes to help pay for building projects and campus operations outside of Navarro County.

“The truth of the matter is what’s been presented (in the paper) is inaccurate as to what has happened here in Austin,” Cook said of the recent opinion pieces.

Cook said that college president Dr. Richard Sanchez did contact him “a few weeks ago,” to sponsor legislation on behalf of Navarro College. Cook said the contact was, “right before the deadline, which is not good as far as I’m concerned.” Cook explained the lengthy process that legislation must go through before it can be voted on and eventually enacted.

The legislation Sanchez asked Cook to sponsor was to impose a maintenance tax on citizens of Ellis County, he said. The college has operated a campus in Waxahachie for several years, and recently built a new building and began instruction in Midlothian.

“Let me tell you. I don’t represent Ellis County,” Cook told the group. “If somebody tried to impose a tax on people of my district, I’m going to fight them.

“For me to carry legislation that would potentially impose a tax on people I don’t represent is something that I won’t do ‘yesterday, today, or tomorrow,’ and I told them that,” Cook said.

“I also went to (Ellis County) Representative Jim Pitts who informed me that he was asked to carry (legislation) before I was, and he said ‘No, and not only that, if Mr. Cook carries it I’m going to fight it’,” Cook added.

“I love the college, and I’m going to do everything I can to help them, but the college has got to do things right. They have to do things right,” Cook said.

“I’ve asked them to have transparency in their financial disclosure. Right now they have a consolidated financial statement, which means ... you will not have a clue how the money is being spent.

“It’s not allocated by campus, by community, overheads are not allocated in a way that anybody in this room would be able to understand,” Cook added. “You can never truly look at a business and make a determination when you can’t break those things down.”

Cook said at the same meeting at which he was asked to carry legislation for a maintenance tax in Ellis County, “I told them at that time that it was extraordinarily important that the college starts having financial reports that have true transparency where taxpayers in Ellis County who have questions, and the taxpayers in Navarro County and Limestone (County) ... they have a right to know.”

Cook added that the transparent financial reporting was, “the right thing to do.”

“You demand transparency on what we do here in Austin, and the college needs to do the same thing,” Cook said. “The college must, must, move forward with providing transparent financial statements that everybody in this room can look at and understand and tell where the money is being spent.”

Cook said he felt if the college would provide the detailed information, it could be beneficial in the long run.

“If they do that, if the time comes that they want to pass a bond, I think they may be successful,” he said.

Cook reiterated his support of Navarro College, calling it, “extraordinarily important to this community, probably the biggest technology and economic driver we have ... but there are some ‘best practices’ they need to address.

“I think that it is absolutely critical that they have outstanding relationships with whoever they elect to send down here to Austin. It’s so important. I believe there are some key issues that Navarro College needs to address to move themselves forward in a much more positive manner than current,” Cook said.

The Daily Sun was unable to contact Dr. Richard Sanchez for comment, who was out of town on college business, according to his office.

—————

Bob Belcher may be contacted via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com