Pflugerville residents will have a chance to join Austin Community College’s district as soon as this November. Board members moved on Monday to advance a proposal brought forward by city leaders that would let residents access far cheaper tuition in exchange for joining the taxing district.

Austin Community College board members unanimously accepted a petition from Pflugerville residents at a special meeting to begin the process of bringing annexation to voters. The question could be on the ballot as early as November, pending an additional board vote after a public hearing with residents.

If voters in Pflugerville ISD’s boundaries approve the annexation, residents will pay ACC property taxes at the current rate of $0.1034 per $100 of property value. In turn, residents will no longer pay the $201 out-of-district fee per credit hour to take an ACC course. For a 60-hour associate degree, that’s a $12,000 difference, the college said.

Joining the taxing district would also give residents access to in-district tuition and benefits, more dual credit and workforce opportunities and a potential brick-and-mortar campus in town. Pflugerville City Council Member Rudy Metayer and Travis County Precinct 1 Commissioner Jeff Travillion brought the petition to ACC.

Metayer said he knows ACC is “critical” to Pflugerville’s future, particularly at a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping workforce needs. ACC, he said, is prepared to meet those needs.

“We’re at an inflection point in our society, and we are seeing not only the jobs being eliminated, but people truly concerned about what does it look like when the American dream of having a good job, home ownership and having discretionary income taken away,” Metayer said. “We need to be able to provide the workforce training… to have citizens who can go ahead and reach their own dreams and expectations.”

For the college to approve the ballot measure, at least 5% of eligible voters need to sign a petition advocating for annexation. The Pflugerville petition exceeded that requirement by more than 1,000 signatures, with 5,483 total signatories verified by ACC.

Pflugerville voters previously rejected a proposal to join the college’s taxing region in 2018 with 56.5% of the vote, squashing a two-year effort by residents to secure an ACC campus. Since then, the college has passed a free-tuition pilot for in-district high school graduates, set an ambitious goal to reach 70% of students completing a degree by 2030 and established a new campus in Lockhart. 

The college will host a public hearing on the matter in Pflugerville on July 16 at 5 p.m. The hearing will also be livestreamed.