The overview
SISD faces a $25 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2024-25, which district leaders have reduced to $13 million with expenditure cuts, Chief Financial Officer Ann Westbrooks said May 9. In a split 5-2 vote with Secretary Kelly P. Hodges and Assistant Secretary Rhonda Newhouse dissenting, trustees voted May 14 to continue pursuing a VATRE for a $0.05 increase to the district’s tax rate.
“This is a way forward and sort of thwarts what I see as the governor’s and the lieutenant governor’s attempt to destroy us," Vice President Winford Adams Jr. said. "We, with the help of our community, can stand up to Gov. [Greg] Abbott in this way. I trust our administration, and I trust our community to do the right thing, whatever that happens to be.”
SISD’s plans for the VATRE revenue include:
- $8.4 million to provide a 2% raise of the midpoint pay grade for all staff
- Pay equity adjustments
- Balancing the FY 2024-25 budget, leaving the district with a general fund budget shortfall of $899,422
Diving deeper
If a board of trustees approves a tax rate above the voter-approval tax rate—a maintenance and operations rate of $0.6692—voters then must consider the tax rate in an election, as previously reported by Community Impact. The proposed VATRE would put SISD’s FY 2024-25 M&O rate at $0.7192, Westbrooks said.
SISD’s total annual tax rate is $1.1092 per $100 valuation.
Also of note
At the end of April, SISD leaders received their first preliminary estimates for the district’s annual tax rates from the Harris Central Appraisal District, according to Westbrooks' May 9 presentation. The district saw an about 0.6% increase in taxable value.
Additional estimates will be provided from HCAD in July, according to the presentation.
