Tax Rate Election
by Dan Booth Lytle ISD Board President
July 02, 2007
Lytle ISD Residents:
On Saturday, October 13th, a tax rate election will be conducted at the Lytle ISD Administration Building. I’d like to provide some details concerning the reason for this election, how it affects each of you, and Lytle ISD.
To begin, school districts have essentially two taxes that it can charge the citizens within its boundaries. One is the Maintenance and Operations (M &O) Tax, the other is the Interest and Sinking (I&S) Tax. The M &O tax is used to fund the day to day maintenance and operations of the school district. The I&S tax is used to pay for the debts or loans that the district has incurred while building new buildings, such as our Primary School and High School.
The reason we are having this election is because the total tax rate adopted by the Board for the current year is more than the tax rollback rate for Lytle ISD. The current tax rollback rate for Lytle ISD is $1.24 per $100 valuation. The total tax rate adopted by the Board for the current year is $1.37. The $0.13 difference is the result of the Board's decision to increase the M &O tax rate from the state limit of $1.04 to $1.17. When the total tax rate exceeds the rollback rate for the district, an election is required. The voters have the choice of voting either "For" or "Against" approving the total ad valorem tax rate set by the Board. The total tax rate adopted by the Board will result in Lytle ISD receiving the maximum amount of state funding whereas a lower tax rate would result in Lytle ISD receiving less state funding.
Here’s a breakdown of the tax rates that you paid last year, the
State limit rate for the current year as well as the adopted Lytle
ISD current year rate.
YEAR M &O I&S* TOTAL TAX PER $100.00
Previous Year $1.37 $0.23 $1.60
Current Year (State Limit) $1.04 $0.20* $1.24
Current Year (Lytle ISD Adopted) $1.17 $0.20* $1.37
*Please note that the I&S rate does not have a State limit. The Board adopted the lower I&S rate of $0.20, down $0.03 from the previous year, due to the decreasing amount of debt being paid.
From the information in the table above, you can see that the Lytle ISD adopted total tax rate of $1.37 is 23 cents lower than the total tax rate from the previous year.
To break this down further, an average home in Lytle ISD paid $1,344.00 in school taxes the previous year. This same home would pay $1,041.00 during the current year under the State limit rate of $1.24. The Lytle ISD adopted rate of $1.37 would have this house paying $1150.00. $109.00 per year more than the State limit rate. This equates to approximately $9.00 per month more than the State limit rate, but still $16.00 per month less than last years rate.
Here’s how the additional $9.00 per month affects Lytle ISD: The local revenue gained by the school district is $200,000.00, in addition to this; the State will provide an additional $700,000.00 of funding. The total Lytle ISD gain for $9.00 per month is $900,000.00 for the 2007 – 2008 year.
The Lytle ISD adopted tax rate would be used to increase the teacher salary scale starting in the 2008 – 2009 school year. In order to hire and retain quality teachers in our market area, Lytle ISD needs to raise our beginning teacher salary scale to closely match Medina Valley, Somerset, San Antonio, and the Harlandale ISD scales. We currently fall approximately $7000 per year below these scales. In addition to this, funding will be used for technology upgrades throughout the district.
The State limit tax rate would require Lytle ISD to make cuts on its 2007 – 2008 budget, cancel technology purchases, and freeze salaries in the 2008 – 2009 school years and beyond. In addition to this, approximately $500,000.00 of the Lytle ISD fund balance will be needed to operate during the 2007 – 2008 school year.
The election is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on October 13th at the Lytle ISD Administration Building. Early voting begins on September 26th and ends October 9th. I encourage everyone to vote.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail or call.
Respectfully,
Dan Booth
Lytle ISD Board President
Cell: 210-440-4646
Email: dan.booth87@gmail.com
