On Aug. 18, the Montgomery ISD board of trustees adopted the fiscal year 2026-27 tax rate, which is lower than the previous tax rate. The reason behind this decision was to pay back Montgomery residents for their recent support and investments, said MISD Board President Eddie Winn
The breakdown
MISD Superintendent Mark Ruffin said the FY 2026-27 rate would be $1.0479 per $100 valuation; this is a decrease of $0.0433 compared to the district’s previous tax rate of $1.0912.
The basic breakdown for the tax rate is:
- Maintenance and operations: $0.6977 per $100 valuation
- Interest and sinking (debt service): $0.3502 per $100 valuation
M&O focuses on paying the district’s day-to-day operations, programs and essential services. The I&S portion is used to make payments on voter-approved bonds. As previously reported, MISD was able to pass a $326.9 million bond referendum on May 7, 2022, which they are still working to pay off.
The board had two options when deciding the I&S rate for the upcoming fiscal year.. One option was to keep the current I&S rate at $0.3743, which would have led to an overall tax rate reduction of approximately $0.02 while also potentially providing additional bonding capacity for future district projects.
The board instead decided to approve the second option, which reduces the I&S rate to $0.3502 per $100 valuation. This allows thedistrict to lower the overall tax rate as much as possible and maintain a balanced M&O budget to make payments on its existing voter-approved bonds, said Ruffin.
Board trustee Nate Robb also clarified that the property values are not determined by MISD, and that the board can only try to set a fair rate for their constituents.
“Property values are determined by the Montgomery Central Appraisal District, not by the Montgomery ISD board of trustees,” Robb said. “What we can control is the tax rate set by Montgomery ISD. We cannot control the value placed on a property, but when we have the opportunity to lower the rate, we believe it is important to do so.”
Offering input
MISD Board President Eddie Winn said the logic behind the lower I&S rate was to pay back the support MISD locals have given the district over the past bond projects and financial requests.
“We went out to our community for this favor, and we asked them for help to get our district back in the financial situation we needed to be in,” Winn said. “Our community overwhelmingly shows up to support us when we ask for help. I think it's important that when we have the opportunity to give back, we do that. It shows good faith on the district and the board that when you have the ability to do it, we do it.”
