While the Yavapai College District Governing Board voted unanimously to approve the college’s fiscal year 2027 budget — something the board hasn’t done since 2020 — District 3 Rep. Toby Payne still had some misgivings about it.
His concerns include the unequal expenditures between the west and east sides of the county, which he spoke about during the roll call for his vote on the budget.
“I recognize the importance of higher education and its benefits to all stakeholders in the county,” Payne said. “Therefore, I will be voting ‘yes,’ and expect that these issues will be given their due consideration and support by the board and the administration in the future.”
Last year, Payne voted to not approve the budget.
Since fiscal year 2024, the Verde Valley Campus has received just over $4 million in capital improvements and maintenance, according to past years’ approved budgets. The Sedona Center received $530,000 in maintenance and no funds for capital improvements.
Comparatively, Payne said, the board approved a $5 million purchase for the Prescott Pines Camp in 2024 for housing on the Prescott campus.
“We have now expended — through February of ’26 — $12.91 million, and we’re not done yet,” he said.
He said the college, during the same time frame, spent $15,079,000 on Prescott’s Center for Learning and Innovation.
“Between these two programs, we have spent over $27 million,” Payne said. “Now, with a new budget on the table, there’s $7 million for capital improvements, zero allocated to Sedona campus and $260,000 for the Verde campus. This is in no way an equitable effort.”
Payne said the Clarkdale campus’ plan for its Career and Technical Education Center originally included three 10,000-square-footbuildings, but only one was built.
“The previous strategic plan in 2019 called for an additional 80-plus beds for the Verde Valley. Eventhough opportunity came and went, the Verde campus is now about to receive a couple of dozen beds and two buildings being built on campus.”
In addition to capital expenses, educational expenses have a history of inequality between the campuses, Payne said.
“The college seems to start programs but then withdraw support or expects the programs to be self-sustaining,” he said. “Most recently was the culinary school” at the Sedona Center.
Sedona and the Verde Valley fund more than a third of the college’s tax revenue.
Budget
The board did not vote on a tax levy, although in November, the board approved tuition increases at the college to increase revenue.
“New home construction and increased property values in Yavapai County will provide the college with an additional $1,273,000 for the coming fiscal year; this is without any property tax increase,” Payne said during his comments for the budget’s vote. “I commend the board for … not increasing the amount of property taxation this year.”
The budget itself did not include any major changes from the last time the college’s Chief Operating Officer Clint Ewell, Ph.D., presented the budget, which the JOURNAL reported in April.
Ewell said there were a few mistakes he’d made when he originally presented to the board the increases, namely the tier two tuition price, which was originally raised to $143 per credit hour and should have been $134 per credit hour.
The other correction made was for concurrent credit discounts for high school students taking non-CTEC courses before receiving their diploma.
“For many years we’ve been at 50%, becausewe were expanding the program to include all of our coursework,” Ewell said. “We had asked the board to change that discount to 40%. Since that meeting, we’ve had several conversions with high schools and we are being asked by them to take it back to the original level.”
