The Katy ISD board of trustees approved the district’s proposed fiscal year 2016-17 property tax rates at its Sept. 26 meeting. The overall tax rate will remain at $1.5166 per $100 valuation, a number that includes $1.1266 for maintenance and operations and 39 cents for debt services.

The board lowered the debt services rate by 1 cent prior to FY 2015-16 after it had remained at 40 cents since FY 2007-08.

Chris Smith, KISD’s chief financial officer, said voters authorized a $748 million bond package in 2014 at the risk of raising the debt services rate.

“We were real tickled when the debt services tax rate was able to drop a penny a year after the voters went to the polls to give us the ability to build more schools, thinking it may increase the tax rate,” Smith said. “We were able to move on forward with our bond program and our debt management plan another year, and we’re able to continue that one-penny drop.”