Fort Bend ISD board of trustees voted to decrease the district's tax rate for fiscal year 2026-27.
In a nutshell
The new tax rate of $0.9969 per $100 valuation is a 5.68% decrease from the $1.0569 tax rate in FY 2025-26.
The new rate results in residents paying $179 less a year, or $15 a month, for the average home's taxable value of $293,827, Chief Financial Officer Kris Lynn said.
By the numbers
The proposed tax rate includes $0.7169 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations, which funds the district’s daily operations such as salaries, utilities and maintenance.
It also allocates $0.28 for the interest and sinking rate, which funds the district’s outstanding debt for big items such as construction, renovations and land purchases.
The M&O rate will decrease by 7 cents because the seven disaster pennies issued in response to Hurricane Beryl expired this year. Meanwhile, the I&S rate will increase by 1 cent to help pay for the $1.26 billion bond approved by voters in 2023. This results in a total 6-cent decrease.
Zooming out
Although the district will run on a $32.8 million budget shortfall, the adopted tax rate is the highest the district could set the rate without calling for an election. Lynn said that number is decided by property values and state formulas.
“You’d think if you have a deficit, you need more money and so you would want to increase the tax rate,” Lynn said. “Most of the formulas that dictate what our tax rates can be don’t allow us that discretion, so we would have to turn to voters.”
Lynn said district staff want to make sure they’re doing everything they can to reduce spending before asking voters to increase theirs. He said the district has looked at reductions in various areas such as transportation routes, utilities and staff levels to match lower student enrollment.
What else?
Lynn said FBISD’s rate is lower than the surrounding districts’ rates due to various factors, including property values and the number of bonds issued.
