At its May 17 meeting, the board scheduled a public meeting to discuss the proposed tax rate of $1.27935 per $100 valuation and budget for fiscal year 2022-23. The public meeting will be held during the board's next scheduled regular meeting on June 21.
PISD Chief Financial Officer Johnny Hill said the proposed rate was calculated using a certified estimate of district property values, but the district is slated to receive certified values before the tax rate is set.
"So that could go up a little bit [or] it could go down a little bit," Hill said.
The preliminary proposed property tax rate of $1.27935 per $100 valuation is about a 3.13% decrease from the fiscal year 2021-22 rate of $1.32075 per $100 valuation.
"Over the last four years, this would make a total decrease of about 16 cents in the overall tax rate," Hill said. "That's about [a] 11.1% decrease, which I think is worth noting."
The tax rate is divided into two parts—maintenance and operations, or M&O, which funds daily operations for the district; and interest and sinking, or I&S, which is used to make debt payments on capital projects.
The proposed FY 2022-23 tax rate would be made up of a $1.01035 rate for M&O and $0.269 for debt services, according to district documents.
As part of his presentation to the board, Hill explained that the new tax rate could still mean an increase in property taxes for residents in PISD. He said an average residence in the district is valued at approximately $504,000 and the property taxes on it would be $5,425.
"That's on average about [a] $388 increase in tax liability year over year," Hill said. "And if you want to know exactly where that's going, it's going back to the state in the form of recapture."
Recapture redistributes property tax dollars from property-wealthy districts to those deemed property-poor by the Texas Education Agency. After making recapture payments of more than $1 billion to the state over the last six years, Hill said PISD's bill for FY 2022-23 is likely to be its highest ever and the second largest in the state.
