The Lake Travis and Leander ISD boards of trustees are slated to vote on the 2016-17 school year budgets in the coming days, and both boards said they do not plan on raising the tax rate.
Lake Travis ISD
LTISD board of trustees reviewed a proposed $112.9 million operating budget for the 2016-17 school year on July 19. The proposed budget, that contains a $2.05 million shortfall, will be voted on Aug. 16.
Johnny Hill, LTISD’s assistant superintendent for business, financial and auxiliary services, said the district expects to spend about $2.05 million more than is budgeted for the 2016-17 school year, which will require board members to draw from the district’s fund balance, or savings account.
He recommended keeping the tax rate at $1.4075 per $100 of property valuation. He said the taxable property value increased by 11.5 percent for the 2016 tax year, monies which will help pay off bonds from 2006, 2008 and 2012.
“By aggressively paying down the district’s debt service requirements, Lake Travis Independent School District is able to save the citizens of the district interest and also build capacity for future bond programs,” board agenda documents state.
Hill said the debt tax rate, which will remain at .3675 per $100 of valuation, will save the district an estimated $9.8 million in interest and help reduce about $15.7 million of the district’s outstanding bonds.
The amount given to the state’s recapture system—which requires property-wealthy districts to redistribute some of their funds to property-poor districts— will increase by $8.1 million to $41.1 million over the next school year, Hill said.
Revenues for the district are expected to increase by about $12 million, with additional funds coming from new students to the district, flow-through for recapture back to the states and state compensatory education, he said.
About 60 percent of expenditures for the 2016-17 school year are going toward instruction costs, he said. The board approved a 2 percent raise for all employees in June, amounting to $1 million in additional expenditures for the next school year.
With an expected increase of 460 students, or 5 percent over the 2015-16 school year, the total LTISD enrollment for 2016-17 is estimated to be 9,665 students, he said.
Leander ISD
LISD board of trustees said it does not want to adopt a higher tax rate for the 2016-17 school year, which begins Sept. 1.
At the board’s July 21 meeting, Chief Financial Officer Lucas Janda told trustees property values were set to increase in both Travis and Williamson counties by about 10 percent.
Board Vice President Pamela Waggoner said she was interested in lowering the tax rate to make up for the property value increase. Trustees did not discuss the potential tax rates, but agreed the rate for the coming school year would not exceed the current rate of $1.51187 per $100 of property valuation.
LISD estimates its 2016-17 school year budget would include $295 million in revenue offset by $313.7 million in expenditures. The budget would leave LISD with a deficit of about $18.7 million.
The proposed general operating budget is 5.4 percent higher than the 2015-16 budget. The increase was brought on by the need for additional personnel to account for the enrollment of about 38,000 new students, according to board documents. The opening of Tom Glenn High School, a 2-3 percent pay increase for personnel and the purchase of a new student information system also accounted for the increase, according to the board meeting documents.
LISD’s 2015-16 fiscal year ends Aug. 31.
Trustees will hold a public hearing on the 2016-17 budget and tax rate on Aug. 25 at 6:15 p.m. at the LISD Support Services Complex, 1900 Cougar Country Drive, Cedar Park. After the public hearing, board members will likely adopt a budget and discuss and possibly adopt a new tax rate.
