Friendswood ISD officials will propose a $0.02 decrease in the tax rate for fiscal year 2021-22, according to documents presented at the Aug. 9 board meeting.

The rate will be discussed during the Aug. 23 board workshop, which will take place at 7 p.m. at 402 Laurel Drive, Friendswood. The meeting is open to the public and will include discussion of the proposed budget and tax rate.

The proposed maintenance and operations tax rate for FY 2021-22 is $0.9344, which is a $0.0491 decrease from the previous M&O tax rate, per board documents. The proposed interest and sinking rate is up by $0.0291 from fiscal year 2020-21 at $0.3050, balancing out the total proposed rate of $1.2394 at a $0.02 decrease from the FY 2020-21 rate.

Budget worksheets dated Aug. 6 show the district is expected to have a $2.5 million deficit for FY 2021-22. Chief Financial Officer Amber Petree said the district is on track to spend 98% of its budget in the upcoming fiscal year, which would lessen the deficit slightly to $2.26 million.

On average, over the last five fiscal years, the district expended 97.7% of the revised expenditure budget, per board documents. More details are available here.