TCC employees receive annual pay increase

By Carlos Raigosa, editor-in-chief

      The TCC Board of Trustees approved a 4.5 percent salary increase for all employees at its meeting last month at the May Owen Center, the district’s administrative offices.
     The increase, half a percent less than the increase received last year, will cost the district an estimated $2.6 million this year, Dr. Bill Lace, executive assistant to the chancellor, said.
     “TCC employs about 1,400 full-time staff, and the increase will begin Sept. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year,” he said.
     Although the increase is not mandatory, Dr. Leonardo de la Garza, chancellor, must first gain approval by the board before enacting any policy change, Lace said.
     The board also discussed the building of a new fire fighting training complex on NW Campus.
     “The campus is one of the few places where Metroplex firefighters have the ability to train, and the ability to have ‘live action’ burns would greatly increase that training,” Ted Phillips, TCC director of public safety, said.
     Carl Pringle, director of facilities planning, showed a Power Point presentation to the board, illustrating different complexes he visited across the country.
     The cost of the facilities is estimated to be around $11 million. The resulting facility will be one of a kind in the nation and includes the best features of similar facilities, Pringle said.
     The preliminary plans call for the construction of one building that would house up to five separate training areas to allow for a more efficient flow of classes on this complex.
     “The metroplex has a dire need to have proper training,” Phillips said.
TCC utilizes outside facilities in Arlington, Fort Worth and Granbury to conduct live burn scenarios, but these facilities are crowded and not very practical, Phillips said.
     Tom Abercrombie, coordinator of the NW fire academy, explained that the tower currently on the campus cannot be used as a burn facility. The tower is exclusively used to teach maneuvers and positioning of fire fighters.
     De la Garza told the board the district will not sell bonds to fund this project, but instead will pay cash for the construction.
     “A person, who doesn’t know about our pay-as-you-go manner, might think that the college has greater income than expenditures,” De la Garza, said.
The two main factors in the revenue strength of the college are its ability to maintain or increase enrollment and the extent to which the legislature decides to appropriate the money given to the college, De la Garza, said.
     The district has maintained the same tax rate, of 10.641 cents per $100, for the last three years records show.
     In other business, the board approved the 2000-2001 budget for the district. The budget increased $9,137,000, from the prior year, bringing the budget to $141,703,000.