LGISD Adopts New Tax Rate

The board of trustees for La Grange ISD met on Monday night to hold a public hearing on the budget and tax rate for the 2020-2021 school year. At the completion of the hearing, the board considered the proposed budget and tax rate.

The proposed budget was presented at the Aug. 10 board meeting. The administration reviewed the budgets for the general fund, food service and debt service funds with the board. School districts are required by law to adopt an operating budget by Aug. 31 each year. House Bill 3’s maximum compressed rate (MCR) and the COVID-19 pandemic provided many challenges in projecting the state revenues expected, especially with the new change of using the current year’s property values rather than the prior year’s values as has been done previously.

After adopting a budget for 2020-2021, the board adopted the tax rate to support the budget. The board was presented with the proposed tax rate of $1.1523//$100, which is a decrease of $0.02 from last year’s rate. This is due to an increase in property values as well as new legislation from HB3 affecting both the compressed maintenance and operations rate and limitations on the interest and sinking rate. The proposed tax rate was published in The Fayette County Record on Friday, Aug. 14, and a draft of the proposed budget was posted on the district’s website as mandated by the Education Code Section 44.004 (c).

Due to the increase in property values, the approval of the $1.1523/$100 tax rate, effectively increased the tax rate by 6.8%.

The board extended probationary teacher contracts to Samira Noori and Brittany Weishuhn for the 2020-2021 school year. The resignation of Sue Smith was also noted.