With the presentation of the final bond recommendations to the board of trustees less than a month away, the Klein ISD 2015 bond steering committee and consulting firm DeJong Richter narrowed the list of possible bond recommendations to less than $500 million from an initial list of more than $725 million in possible bond projects.
KISD Superintendent Jim Cain said the reduction in costs would reduce the estimated tax rate increase from 16 cents over the next few years to 11 cents. Currently at 35 cents per $100 of property valuation, the debt service rate would have risen to 51 cents by the 2020–21 school year with the passage of the initial bond package compared to 45.5 cents with the new list of recommendations.
"What we did at our board session last week was say, 'That's probably too much,'" Cain said. "'Let's see if we can right-size this bond and make sure we keep everything that needs to be kept there that puts less pressure on the debt service part of the tax rate.'"
David Sturtz, project director for DeJong Richter, presented recommendations at the third steering committee meeting Oct. 28. Made up of KISD staff and local stakeholders, the committee met again Nov. 11 to consider the final recommendations before the board of trustees receives the recommended bond package at a Dec. 8 board meeting.
