The Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing today, Thursday, Aug. 31, on a proposed tax rate and budget for the coming school year.
The hearing will be at 6 p.m. at the school district’s central administration office at 100 S. Station St. Trustees are expected to vote on the rate and budget immediately after the hearing.
The proposed tax rate is $1.394582 per $100 in property value. The rate is about 15.5 cents lower than last year’s rate of $1.55 because of changes in school finance laws passed by the state Legislature. However, Port Aransas taxpayers may not see any relief because reassessments have shot island property values skyward. Property value reassessments are done periodically by the Nueces County Appraisal District.
While the average Port Aransas home in the 2005-2006 school year was valued at $158,054, it now is valued at $201,623. While that homeowner had to pay $2,285.26 last year, the bill now will be $2,569.73 if trustees approve the proposed rate.
Proposed expenditures for the 20062007 school year are 25.72 higher than last year mostly because of higher property values, said Superintendent Billy Wiggins.
The 2005-06 school year’s estimated total expenditures were $14.8 million.
The budget for the 2006-2007 year currently being recommended to the school board is about $18,650,000.
The difference between this year’s recommended budget and last year’s total expenditures is approximately $3,850,000. Of that amount, about $3,250,000 is going out to other school districts in the Robin Hood plan. Still, PAISD must include in its budget the money that will be sent away.
That leaves about $600,000. That is paying for a new roof for H.G. Olsen Elementary School, a new school bus, a new Chevrolet Suburban, plus increased costs for salaries, electricity and fuel.
Expenditures for this school year are higher also because the Legislature ‘s school finance reform bill, HB 1, requires that school districts increase each teacher’s salary $2,000 over and above the raises they would have been getting anyway through existing salary schedules, Wiggins said.
PAISD business manager Olivia Mixon said Port Aransas teachers were going to be getting raises this year anyway, with the amount each teacher gets depending on years of experience. For example, a teacher with 10 years of experience will get a $1,200 raise approved locally by the school board. With the state-mandated raise, that teacher’s raise will total $3,200.
In addition, expenditures at PAISD have gone up because of higher fuel costs for school vehicles including buses, Wiggins said.
The skyrocketing cost of electricity also will nearly double the school district’s bills, Wiggins said.
PAISD takes part in Energy for Schools, a consortium of many school districts around the state that band together to get a break on electric bills. While the organization does get a break on electric bills, the consortium cannot fully protect school districts against hikes in electrical costs. PAISD previously was paying slightly less than 5 cents per kilowatt hour, but it now will be paying a bit more than 9 cents per kilowatt hour.
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