Taxpayers living in Hutto ISD's boundaries could see their lowest school tax rate in five years if the district’s proposed rate is adopted for the 2019-20 school year. The Hutto ISD Board of Trustees set a proposed maximum tax rate at nearly $1.50 per $100 of taxable value for the 2019-20 academic year at its July 25 meeting. The board will revisit the tax rate at its August 22 meeting—which will include a public hearing at 5:30 p.m.—before the tax rate is formally adopted. “Ultimately, you really don’t have to make an adoptive tax decision tonight, but you do have to make a decision on what we want to publish in the paper," said Hutto ISD Chief Financial Officer Glenn Graham. While the board voted on a proposed rate of nearly $1.50 per $100 valuation, the final, adopted rate can be at or lower than $1.50. The proposed tax rate, if approved, would mark a nearly $0.10 decrease per $100 valuation from the 2018-19 academic year’s rate. The decision would follow in the wake of a continuous drop in rates since the 2014-15 school year, which saw its annual rate at $1.67 per $100 valuation. Thanks to legislation passed by the Texas State Legislature, school districts state-wide will receive $11.6 billion from House Bill 3, $5 billion of which is intended to go toward property tax relief. The $1.50 tax rate per $100 valuation is broken into a baseline $1.06 maintenance and operations rate, along with a $0.43 interest and sinking tax rate. “It’s a hard deal for me too to being fiscally responsible ...but we told the public we could do this with 43 cents and I think we have to honor that,” said Board Member Phillip Boutwell. Following the public hearing in August, Hutto ISD is expected to approve the final tax rate for its 2019-20 academic year budget, which begins September 1.