Richardson ISD residents will see a dip of nearly $0.10 in the district's operational tax rate for fiscal year 2019-20.

The board of trustees adopted a lower operating tax rate of $1.06835 per $100 valuation at its Aug. 26 work session. This is a decrease from the FY 2018-19 operating tax rate of $1.17 per $100.

This reduction is the result of the new school finance law—House Bill 3—that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed June 12, Board President Justin Bono said.

Staff proposed June 17 an operating tax rate of $1.0684 per $100 valuation to provide annual savings of about $157 for the average RISD homeowner, as per a previous report by Community Impact Newspaper.

But that rate was reduced by another $0.00005 after the district received clarification about HB 3 from the Texas Education Agency, RISD Chief Financial Officer David Pate said. Essentially, this adopted rate will yield another $0.08 in savings on top of the $157, he said.

When added to the interest and sinking tax rate of $0.35 per $100—which is used to pay debt—the total RISD rate will equal $1.41835 per $100 valuation.