Pflugerville school board readjusts budget following defeat of tax ratification plan
The Pflugerville school board redrafted next year's budget without $7 million that would have come to the district as part of the proposed tax ratification proposition that was defeated in the November election.
The school board had drafted the 2022 budget before the election and had planned for those additional funds. The failed proposal would have added two cents to the $1.38 tax rate, which officials said would have brought the district $3.8 million in taxes and $3.3 million in state aid.
“This not passing didn’t mean an increase, but it affected our bottom line to the tune of $7 million,” said Jennifer Land, the district's chief financial officer.
Superintendent Douglas Killian said the failure of the voter-approved tax rate means the state funding will go to another school district, such as Lake Travis, which did pass an increase in the tax rate.
“In the school financing system, there is still a huge inequity,” Killian said. “In order to get additional weighted funding, you have to go to the voters to get that. Those are easier to approve in wealthy school districts, not because they have more money to pay for it but because there is an understanding of the extra money that comes in.”
The 2021 tax rate was set to $1.38, from $1.42 last year, however the proposition language says this an increase from last year because it is calculated using the “no-new-revenue” tax rate. The state comptroller's “no-new-revenue” rate decreases the tax rate when the property values increase because it would result in the same net revenue to the district. Any rate more than the estimated no-new-revenue tax rate is considered an increase even though it is a lower dollar value than the previous year.
“We are not increasing our rate but the Legislature has said that we have to say we are increasing our rate and we’re not,” said board Member Tony Hanson. “I just hate that our public thinks that we are increasing our rate. We do everything to make sure that this district is running in the best way possible, but yet and still individuals with other motives want to take that away from us.”
In the annual financial report, Land said the district invested $235 million last year and received $1 million in interest payments. She emphasized that the investment team diversified the district's portfolio and she hopes it will yield more interest in the future.
“We earned almost $1 million in interest, which is impressive until you look at the fact that we had so much invested throughout the year,” Land said. “It pales in comparison to what we had invested. If we had been in a different time, maybe a year or two ago, that number would have been much greater than what it is.”
The school board also approved a shared service agreement with the Capital Area Regional Day School Program for the Deaf to allow Pflugerville preschoolers to take part. There are currently 15 preschoolers in the day school program.
The board also heard that Elementary school 23 is currently 17 days behind schedule for completion. They hope to finish and open the school to teachers on Aug. 17. Bohls Middle School is in its final stages of construction. It will open to teachers on Dec. 7.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Pflugerville school board readjusts budget following defeat of tax ratification proposition
