At the Aug. 22 meeting, the board of trustees discussed a proposed rate of $1.1308 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2022-23. The FY 2021-22 tax rate is $1.2751 per $100 valuation.
“The funding is based on a formula that is really not in our control,” GCISD Chief Financial Officer DaiAnn Mooney said.
The board is scheduled to formally adopt the tax rate at its Sept. 22 meeting.
Trustees also approved amendments that increased the budget’s general fund expenditures to more than $193.92 million. The $193.53 million general fund budget approved at the board’s June 20 meeting was based on a lower estimate for revenues.
The district received its certified property tax values in late July from the Tarrant Appraisal District.
Mooney said during a presentation that residential property values increased about 8.9% from $8.963 billion to $9.764 billion. For commercial properties, values increased 6.45% from $8.619 billion to $9.175 billion, she said.
This change in certified values also affects the district’s recapture payment, also known as Robin Hood. Recapture payments redistribute revenues from property-wealthy districts in Texas to property-poor districts. GCISD’s payment was projected to be about $54.6 million, but the certified values mean the district’s recapture rate is now estimated to be closer to $57.6 million, the presentation stated.
GCISD’s property tax rate is split into two parts. The maintenance and operations, or M&O, tax rate is proposed to be $0.9091 per $100 valuation, a decrease from $0.9534 per $100 valuation. Most of the decrease in the tax rate would come from the interest and sinking, or I&S, rate, which is proposed to be $0.2217 per $100 valuation. That is a reduction of $0.10 from the FY 2021-22 rate.
Officials said the latest numbers will help the district balance its budget.
“We’re still meeting our needs on our M&O side and still paying off debt on our I&S side with a little extra,” Board President Casey Ford said at the meeting.
