The Austin Community College District (ACC) Board of Trustees approved the fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget at their regular July 7, 2025, meeting. The unanimous vote came after five months of budget discussions.

The $568 million balanced budget includes a 3% employee pay raise, maintains the College’s minimum wage, keeps tuition and fees unchanged for the 12th consecutive year, projects double-digit enrollment growth, and factors in the first increase to employee benefit rates in seven years.

Executive Vice Chancellor of Finance & Administration Neil Vickers reviewed the FY26 budget and answered trustees’ questions before the vote. Below are the highlights.

FY26 Revenues

Vickers said the College is proposing a more conservative budget this year because it expects $11 million less in revenue than previously thought. Here’s why: 

  • Property values decreased, resulting in a $5 million loss of expected revenue.
  • The state legislature passed a personal property tax exemption this session, resulting in another $5 million loss in revenue.
  • The legislature also revised the rules regarding community college funding, resulting in a $1 million loss of expected revenue.

With current fall enrollment trending up 15% for 2025 compared to fall 2024, the College increased its projected enrollment growth from 5% to 10% for the year. 

FY26 Expenses

There are two new costs added to the budget—$19 million for additional faculty salaries and benefits to coincide with the projected enrollment increase, and $10 million for the employee compensation package, summarized below.

Employee Compensation

The $10 million budgeted for the compensation package includes a 3% raise for all current employees. The increase is higher than the consumer price index of 2.4% and is in line with what other large community colleges and local entities are planning.

The budget maintains the College’s minimum wage of $23/hour, which Vickers said may help with the issue of wage compression. ACC continues to have the highest minimum wage rate of any other public sector employer—locally, statewide, and possibly nationally.

College administration did not recommend any additional salary adjustments for full-time or adjunct faculty this year. Per Board policy, the College uses the Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA) Survey annually to determine if our salaries are competitive. This year’s survey results show that full-time faculty are compensated among the top three of the Metro 8 community colleges at the required points of the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels.

Since adjunct faculty salaries are a percentage of full-time faculty salaries, there were no recommended changes to adjunct salaries. However, Trustees requested that College administrators explore how other community colleges outside of Texas deal with adjunct faculty compensation so that more reference points are available for future discussions.

ACC is currently undergoing a market study for staff positions this year since Board policy requires the College to conduct a non-faculty market study in odd-numbered years. The market study is included in the Compensation and Classification study being performed by consultant Guidehouse. Preliminary results suggest that a small percentage of staff will need salary adjustments. As a result, $1 million of the budget—less than 1% of total staff wages—has been set aside for possible market adjustments and reclassifications of staff salaries.

Finally, the Employee’s Retirement System of Texas (ERS) is raising health insurance rates for the first time in seven years. ACC will continue to pay the full employee portion, including the 8% increase; however, employees will see the increase added to their dependents’ coverage.

The new budget cycle begins September 1, 2025.  

Watch the recording of the budget adoption HERE.