Carroll ISD's board of trustees is looking into cutting the district's tax rates by a combined eight cents.
At an Aug. 26 meeting, several members of the public stood before the board and asked for a tax rate decrease.
Under House Bill 3, a new Texas school finance law, CISD already plans to decrease its current tax rate for maintaining and operating schools by seven cents. With this decrease, the new total tax rate would be $1.31 per $100 valuation, resulting in property tax savings of $486 on the average home, according to district documents.
But that tax rate could be even lower, and the savings for taxpayers could be higher. On Aug. 26 trustees discussed another decrease, this one in the district's debt service tax rate.
Scott Wrehe, assistant superintendent for financial services, recommended the district decrease this tax rate by a half-cent or eight-tenths of a cent.
The district estimates total property value in CISD grew 8.1% from last year, now standing at a combined $9.6 billion. These estimates come from the Tarrant Appraisal District's July report, Wrehe said. Historically, when reports are final, in September, property values are higher.
"There are still values in appeal that could come through," Wrehe said. "Four of the last five years, September values [were] higher than the July values."
With this in mind, trustees suggested dropping the debt service tax rate by an entire penny rather than a half-cent or eight-tenths of a cent, for a total tax rate of $1.30 per $100 valuation. This would bring average taxpayer savings up to nearly $550, trustees estimated.
No action was taken. The board directed staff to run numbers with the one-cent cut for the debt service tax rate. The results of this study will be presented at the next CISD board meeting before a final tax rate is adopted.