Eanes ISD residents can expect to see a slightly lower tax rate in 2026-27 following the board of trustees' adoption of the rate during its Aug. 18 meeting, while an employee compensation plan is still to be determined.
What you need to know
The approved tax rate of $0.8254 per $100 of valuation includes $0.7054 for maintenance and operations and $0.12. for interest and sinking.
The M&O tax rate funds day-to-day operating expenses, while the I&S tax rate funds debt payments on bonds used for capital projects.
Chief Financial Officer Pete Pape said the continued M&O tax rate decrease has largely been due to statutes passed at the Texas Legislature, while the district's bond refunding efforts have kept the I&S tax rate consistent since a two-cent decrease in 2020-21.
What else?
The board indefinitely postponed voting on the sale of district owned land to the Westbank Community Library District, and subsequently, postponed voting on an employee compensation plan until the September board meeting.
The board initially postponed voting on the compensation plan after adopting the 2026-27 budget in June. Two of the budget options included either a $700 one-time payment for eligible staff, or a 2% pay increase.
The land sale was initially baked into the budget for about $1.5 million in additional revenues, but trustees voted to remove these revenues during its adoption of the budget, pending finalization of the sale, resulting in the $80,000 budget surplus.
Some trustees said voting for an increase now would result in a budget shortfall and continued fund balance decline, and ultimately voted to wait until the land sale is finalized.
Koennecke suggested the board postpone voting on the compensation plan on Aug. 18, saying officials are preparing more information on the land sale and other data for the September board meeting.
Trustees James Bradley and Kelly Marwill both supported moving forward with a plan instead of waiting for "ink to dry" on the land sale contract.
"There's going to be [unknown] variables all the time," Marwill said. "But it is a great time for us to listen to what was said, listen to the stories that were told to us about our staff, and go ahead and discuss and fairly compensate our staff."
However, trustee John Troy said the district has been able to make painful but strategic decisions in recent months in order to balance the budget.
"It has set us on the path so that we are continuing this year to make additional tough decisions, so that we can honor the next two years as we talked about being able to do raises," Troy said. "I believe it takes leadership to put the fiscal health of our district where it needs to be, and I think our community values managing the budget in a fiscally sound manner to make the tough calls, and recognizes that this is a process."
Looking ahead
The board will next meet on Sept. 22.
