By Juan Montoya
There will be a two-tier meeting tomorrow at the meeting of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District.
The first meeting will be held at 2 pm. and will handle the lawsuits, terminations, reassignments and hiring of new personnel for the district.
Once that distasteful task is over, then the board will get down to the business of making ends meet at the resumption of the regular board meeting that will reconvene at 5:30 p.m.
At the resumption of the meeting, two items are of special concern to district taxpayers.
They are:
XIII. Consent Agenda: There will be a two-tier meeting tomorrow at the meeting of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District.
The first meeting will be held at 2 pm. and will handle the lawsuits, terminations, reassignments and hiring of new personnel for the district.
Once that distasteful task is over, then the board will get down to the business of making ends meet at the resumption of the regular board meeting that will reconvene at 5:30 p.m.
At the resumption of the meeting, two items are of special concern to district taxpayers.They are:
A. Recommend approval of the following General Function Item(s): 36. Recommend approval of Resolution No. 015/15-16 for the adoption of the 2015-2016 Proposed Tax Rate. Recommend to adopt a tax rate of no more than $1.152500 per $100.00 valuation with a Maintenance and Operations rate of $1.152500 and a Debt Services rate of $0.000000.
| Maintenance and Operations | $1.152500 |
| Debt Service | 0.000000 |
| Total Proposed Rate | $1.152500 |
That debt service includes the payments on some $235 million in school construction bonds that since 1997, local voters have approved.
Currently, the tax rate stands at $1.145666. The proposed rate will be $1.152500, a $0.006834 increase. In 2013-2014, the BISD passed a maintenance and operations tax rate of $1.04 per $100 of assessed value and a debt service levy of $0.102155, for total taxes of $1.142155 per $100 of assessed value.
By moving the entire debt service to Maintenance and Operations, it effectively increases that rate from $1.04 per $100 to $1.152500, an 11 cent per $100 increase triggering the Tax Ratification Election.
The next item is:
The next item is:
37. Recommend approval for an Official Notice and Order of the Brownsville Independent School District Tax Ratification Election (TRE) to be held Tuesday, September 15, 2015.
According to the Texas Association of School Boards, "If the board is considering raising the tax rate at least two cents to make ends meet in the budget year, it must holding a tax ratification election (TRE) to raise the maintenance tax rate."
That election is addressed in Item 17 that states:
17. Recommend approval of Official Notice and Order of the BISD Tax Ratification Election (TRE) to be held Tuesday, September 15, 2015.
The TSBA also states that "A district that adopts a tax rate above its rollback tax rate must, in most circumstances, hold an election for the voters to ratify the higher rate. If a majority of the votes cast favor the proposition, the tax rate for the current year is the rate adopted by the board. If the proposition is not approved, then the board may not adopt a tax rate for the current year that exceeds the rollback rate."
But before the BISD board approves the tax rate, it must hold a public hearing on where the proposed tax rate is presented and the public allowed to state their opinion on the increase.
That item agenda is:
IX. Open Public Hearing to discuss Proposed Tax Rate
24. Presentation of the BISD 2015-2016 Proposed Tax Rate.
25. Public Participation to discuss Proposed Tax Rate
"The taxing unit must hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, and publicize its date, time and location. The proposed budget must be made available for your inspection. Generally, the governing body must set the public hearing for a date after the 15th day of the month following the month in which the budget is prepared, but before the date on which taxes will be levied by the taxing unit.
According to State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, "the effective tax rate is the rate the BISD needs to generate about the same amount of revenue it received in the year before on properties taxed in both years. If property values rise, the effective tax rate will go down, and vice versa. The actual tax rate, however, depends on the budget adopted by the school board."
"The 'rollback rate,' by contrast, would provide the district with about the same amount of tax revenue it spent in the previous year for day-to-day operations, plus an extra 8 percent increase for operating expenses and sufficient revenue to pay its debts in the coming year. The rollback rate for school districts authorizes an additional four cents."
Former school board members say the district's cash crunch has been a long time in coming ever since previous boards began going to the BISD's reserve fund to fuel the construction binge and cost overruns of some facilities, Veterans Memorial High School for example.
Then, with operating expenses. litigation costs and district-wide raises passed y the board this year, the chickens are coming home to roosts and the district must go to the taxpayer to fund these expenses.
Will the district's taxpayers buy into the increase? See you at the public hearing tomorrow.
According to the Texas Association of School Boards, "If the board is considering raising the tax rate at least two cents to make ends meet in the budget year, it must holding a tax ratification election (TRE) to raise the maintenance tax rate."
That election is addressed in Item 17 that states:
17. Recommend approval of Official Notice and Order of the BISD Tax Ratification Election (TRE) to be held Tuesday, September 15, 2015.
The TSBA also states that "A district that adopts a tax rate above its rollback tax rate must, in most circumstances, hold an election for the voters to ratify the higher rate. If a majority of the votes cast favor the proposition, the tax rate for the current year is the rate adopted by the board. If the proposition is not approved, then the board may not adopt a tax rate for the current year that exceeds the rollback rate."
But before the BISD board approves the tax rate, it must hold a public hearing on where the proposed tax rate is presented and the public allowed to state their opinion on the increase.
That item agenda is:
IX. Open Public Hearing to discuss Proposed Tax Rate
24. Presentation of the BISD 2015-2016 Proposed Tax Rate.
25. Public Participation to discuss Proposed Tax Rate
"The taxing unit must hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, and publicize its date, time and location. The proposed budget must be made available for your inspection. Generally, the governing body must set the public hearing for a date after the 15th day of the month following the month in which the budget is prepared, but before the date on which taxes will be levied by the taxing unit.
According to State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, "the effective tax rate is the rate the BISD needs to generate about the same amount of revenue it received in the year before on properties taxed in both years. If property values rise, the effective tax rate will go down, and vice versa. The actual tax rate, however, depends on the budget adopted by the school board."
"The 'rollback rate,' by contrast, would provide the district with about the same amount of tax revenue it spent in the previous year for day-to-day operations, plus an extra 8 percent increase for operating expenses and sufficient revenue to pay its debts in the coming year. The rollback rate for school districts authorizes an additional four cents."
Former school board members say the district's cash crunch has been a long time in coming ever since previous boards began going to the BISD's reserve fund to fuel the construction binge and cost overruns of some facilities, Veterans Memorial High School for example.
Then, with operating expenses. litigation costs and district-wide raises passed y the board this year, the chickens are coming home to roosts and the district must go to the taxpayer to fund these expenses.
Will the district's taxpayers buy into the increase? See you at the public hearing tomorrow.
7 comments:
La Luci Longoria wants to be popular like Caitlyn Jenner. Uuuy!
Think about it. The charters come. They take students from the public schools. The public schools get less money. Taxes get raised ( a very small increase here). The charters are private, for profit schools. The citizens have higher taxes to subsidize the for profit schools.
Charter schools are more effective because they focus on education, not on socialization and feeding. BISD is the largest and most expensive "day care" in the RGV. Parents who want their kids to have a good education abandon BISD because it dumbs down the academics to keep warm butts in school and make money. Competition is good, but BISD doesn't want to play academics. Too much corruption and not enough education.
Charters are money making machines
That's right at 3:12 pm
and yes we have to foot the bill
for all the parents that buy into these new teecheeing ideas
Charter schools were created by. The Texas right wing Republican Party to weaken and abolish the teachers trade unions and associations. They are cash cows for profit .
Chinga tu madre Valadez ! Even Caitlyn Jenner is preferable over your ugly speckled ass pendejo !
Is 12:45 Ugly speckled ass Valadez?
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