Amid booming enrollment, Del Mar College is considering staff raises and a slight property tax rate increase for the fiscal year 2026 budget.
The Del Mar College Board of Regents will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget and property tax rate at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 26 at the Del Mar College Center for Economic Development. After the hearing, the board is expected to vote to adopt the budget and tax rate.
Here’s what to know about current budget plans:
What’s happening with enrollments and tuition?
Currently, enrollments are rising at Del Mar College.
The total credit and dual credit enrollment grew by 22% between fall 2024 and fall 2025. The fall 2025 semester begins Aug. 25.
This amounts to more than 1,100 additional credit students and more than 600 additional dual credit students compared to last year.
About 15% of the currently enrolled credit students, or more than 1,400, are participating in the college’s Freedom to Dream program, which waives tuition and fees for full-time students. The college is still registering students.
The program is only available so far to first-time freshman-level college students, including 2025 high school graduates who have accrued additional credit hours.
Enrollment figures for continuing education, which includes short-term workforce programs, are not yet available. The first continuing education quarter of the school year begins Sept. 1.
The college does not plan to increase tuition this year.
Could the tax rate change?
The tax rate is expected to increase slightly. Including a slight increase in the maintenance and operations tax rate and a slight decrease in the debt service tax rate, the total tax rate for Del Mar College is proposed to rise from just over 26 cents per $100 of assessed value to just over 27.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.
This is slightly above the no-new-revenue rate, resulting in an additional $6.3 million in maintenance and operations tax revenues.
For fiscal year 2025, the average homestead value in the Del Mar College taxing district was $260,903. At this homestead value, the homeowner owed $644 for 2025.
For the upcoming fiscal year, the average homestead value is now $259,872. For fiscal year 2026, the average homeowner at the new value would owe $717.
The 2026 tax rate has not yet been approved by the Del Mar College Board of Regents.
What could revenue changes mean for the Del Mar College budget?
The college expects to collect an additional half a million dollars in state funding that supports dual credit programs for low-income students. At the same time, it is expecting slightly less performance-based state funding due to tweaks in which types of programs the state considers high-value.
In total, state funding, including insurance and retirement contributions, will increase by more than $857,000 from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026.
With the state funds, local tax revenues and tuition revenue increases due to rising enrollments, the college expects to collect an additional $8.4 million compared to the previous year.
That puts the total maintenance and operations revenues at $133.6 million.
The 2026 budget has not yet been approved by the Del Mar College Board of Regents.
Are faculty and staff raises planned?
Del Mar College staff presented the regents with three potential salary and benefits scenarios during the Aug. 12 meeting.
All three included raises, ranging from a 3% to a 4% raise.
If the middle option is approved by the regents, faculty and staff would receive 3.5% raises. This would cost the college an additional $3.1 million.
Under the 3.5% raise scenario, total maintenance and operations expenses for 2026 would come in at about $133.6 million, exactly meeting the revenue projection.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Del Mar College is crafting a 2026 budget. Here’s what to know about taxes, faculty raises
Reporting by Olivia Garrett, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
