Dateline Grapevine/Colleyville: August 17, 2001  11:10 PM

GCISD Press Release - Board to Set Tax Rate; Provide at Least a 4% Pay Increase

The GCISD Board of Trustees has announced its intention to adopt a tax rate with a 0-cent increase in the Maintenance and Operations portion to fund the 2001-2002 budget. A 3.45-cent increase in the debt service tax rate is being recommended on the Interest and Sinking portion of the rate to service the $134 million bond voters approved in 1998. 

The current tax rate is $1.58229 per $100 of assessed property value. The recommended 2001-2002 rate will be $1.61679 per $100 valuation. The budget being proposed is for $78 million and will provide for at least a 4 percent pay increase for all district employees and set starting teacher salaries at a competitive rate. The tax levy includes approximately $26.6 for GCISD's distribution of tax revenue (better known as "Robin Hood" payments).

The district will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Aug. 21 in the Board Room of the GCISD Administration Building to discuss the budget that will determine the tax rate that will be adopted. Public participation in the discussion is invited.

More than $1.3 million in budget reductions were made in order to keep the M&O tax rate equal to last year's rate. Maintaining the same M&O rate is difficult because GCISD's Robin Hood payment continues to rise. Last year, approximately 31 cents of the M&O tax rate generated revenue required for the District's $20 million Robin Hood payment. In 2001-02, the Robin Hood payment is expected to increase nearly $7 million to $26.6 million. This increase will require the district to dedicate an additional 6 cents of the tax rate to fund the Robin Hood payment, bringing the portion of the district's tax rate devoted to Robin Hood to 37 cents. In 2000-2001, only $1.10 of the tax levy was available to fund local program costs. That amount will decline in 2001-2002 to $1.04.

Voters in 1998 overwhelmingly approved the bond election that provided for a new Grapevine Middle School campus and improvements/enhancements to each of the district's 17 schools and various departments, as well as the construction of the Mustang-Panther Stadium. The bond is nearing completion, with only four main projects not yet finished. In 1998-99, the debt service rate was $0.172. Due to prudent decisions relating to the budget, the Board was able to keep that rate unchanged for the past two years. The proposed increase of $0.206 is now necessary to finance the bond debt. That rate is 5.5 cents below the 9-cent increase on debt service that was originally projected for the first three years.

Another factor contributing to the ability to keep the M&O rate the same is that the district is receiving about $2 million more in property tax revenues than originally expected because taxable values were certified at approximately 5 percent higher than anticipated. The Tarrant Appraisal District has indicated that GCISD's certified tax roll for 2001-2002 is $7.16 billion.

The Board is expected to officially adopt the budget and set the tax rate at the Aug. 21 meeting following the public hearing.

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