Published: August 31, 2006 11:07 am      

District drops tax rate

SMCISD taxpayers expected to save an average of $100

San Marcos — San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District property taxes will fall by 13 cents per $100 this year under a budget approved by the district’s board on Wednesday.

The tax rate will be $1.70 per $100 in appraised value compared to $1.83 last year. Enabled by the state school finance plan adopted this spring, the decrease amounts to $100 savings for the average homeowner.

The tax rate will fall another 33 cents next year if the school board does not increase taxes.

“There is a lot of confusion about how this works, and a lot of the confusion is in the Legislature,” school board member Peter Baen said.

Under the budget for the fiscal year that starts Friday, the district will spend $52.5 million in general fund money and add $517,016 to savings. Last year, the district spent about $1.4 million out of fund balance to balance the budget.

School board members said they were glad to add to the savings this time around. The estimated fund balance will be $12.3 million compared with a low of $3.8 million in recent years.

Last minute changes made on Wednesday include adding money for repairs to the central administration building and $45,000 for a demographic study to prepare to realign attendance districts for elementary schools.

Administrators also recommended adding money to extend a $600 raise to some school employees who missed out on other recent pay raises including diagnosticians, speech pathologists and assistant principals.