Carroll ISD tax rate drops with rise in values

In response to rising property values, Carroll trustees recently approved a small decrease to the school district’s tax rate.

At a Sept. 14 meeting, board members voted 5-2 to decrease the tax rate by a half-cent to $1.395 per $100 valuation. Trustees Danny Gilpin and Sheri Mills opposed the reduction.

“I like the idea of reducing taxes when its possible,” said Trustee Read Ballew. “It’s a show of good will to our taxpayers.”

Administration officials had proposed that the rate stay the same as last year, $1.04 for daily operations and 36 cents for bond debt. The latter amount generated more than what was needed to cover annual payments on debt, but administrators wanted to use excess funds to pay down variable rate bonds.

Robb Welch, assistant superintendent of financial services, said that paying down bonds would create more capacity to raise money for capital improvement needs in the near future.

Gilpin said he favored keeping the rate the same this year while a committee studies the school district’s capital improvement needs.

Welch said that the lower payment would still generate excess funds to pay down bonds but the amount would be lower.

Trustee Matt Kormann said that most residents likely will pay more because of the rise in values. He noted that the gains don’t help Carroll schools’ daily operations because the property-wealthy district sends money back to the state and had to increase its payment this year by more than $3 million.

“It’s money we will never see,” Kormann said.

According to the Tarrant Appraisal District, the market value of the average home in the Carroll school district rose from $523,216 in 2014 to $548,943 in 2015, an increase of about 5 percent.

Since 2005, the rate for bond debt has dropped by 8 cents.

Ballew said, “A half a cent is not a lot, but we did 8 cents a half a cent or one cent at a time. We understand the burden our taxpayers are under.”

The half cent reduction represents a 3.6 percent drop in the tax rate.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Carroll ISD tax rate drops with rise in values."