East County property taxes helped provide space for Mountain Institute office
The District office of the Mountain Institute Joint Technical Education District is now located at Yavapai Community College’s Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport. The institute provides and coordinates Career and Technical Education programs for high school students on the West side of the County. By locating within the CTEC facility, the Institute has an unparalleled opportunity to closely coordinate its JTED students CTE needs with the College offerings at the state-of-the-art facility.
Unfortunately, no Verde Valley high school JTED students and only a handful of residents have been able to take advantage of the state-of-the-art training offered at CTEC.
The Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport was made possible in part because of property taxes paid by East County voters; all of whom reside in the Verde Valley. Because the property taxes they generate pay for all the costs of operating the Verde Campus and Sedona Center, around $5.5 million each year is sent over the Mountain to be spent on projects on that side of the County. In addition, the West side is able to use tuition, state aid, government grants and other revenue generated by Verde Valley students on West side development. Only on a rare occasion when a capital project is created on the East side of the County does some of that money return to the Verde Valley.
The relationship developed between the Mountain Institute and the College over the past decade is a model of cooperation and development. However, as noted above, it would not have been possible without the taxpayer support from the Verde Valley. It is a model that should be emulated on the East side of the County for its 70,000 residents.
(JTED entrance photo from District Governing Board Agenda.)
