Taxing Districts in process of setting rates, up and down
This is the time of year taxing entities set budgets and tax rates for another year. To date, Houston ISD has voted a major increase of 3¢ per $100 valuation, and Aldine ISD has lowered their rate by 2.25¢. Others are expected to hold their rates, because property valuations are increasing this year, resulting in more money for most entities, in spite of no rate change, or a small changes.
Local districts that have not changed their rates to date include Houston Community College, City of Houston, and Harris County. Harris County Flood Control has proposed a small increase, and ESD#1 a small decrease. However, some of their tax bills will increase, depending upon the appraisal value of your property. This will also create more income for the taxing units.
Houston ISD still lowest of any district in County
October 10, 2013 – The HISD Board of Education on Thursday adopted a 3-cent property tax rate increase. This represents the first such rate increase since 2001. The new property tax rate of $1.1867 per $100 taxable value is nearly 24 cents less than the average Harris County school district – maintaining HISD’s position as having the lowest rate of any district in the region.
The tax rate measure was adopted by a 4-3 vote with trustees Larry Marshall, Paula Harris, Harvin Moore, and Rhonda Skillern-Jones in favor, and trustees Anna Eastman, Michael Lunceford, and Juliet Stipeche opposed.
Because the new tax rate does not cover all of the district’s financial obligations for the current school year, the board also agreed to use $4.9 million in savings from prior years to balance the budget.
Homeowner Exemption Intact
In addition to having the lowest tax rate in the county, HISD is among just eight county school districts that grant homeowners an additional 20 percent homestead exemption. As a result, the owner of a $200,000 home in HISD pays hundreds less in taxes than the owner of a home with the same value elsewhere in Harris County.
Harris County school districts with higher tax rates in 2012 than HISD’s 2013 tax rate include: Aldine, Alief, Channelview, Clear Creek, Crosby, Cypress-Fairbanks, Dayton, Deer Park, Galena Park, Goose Creek, Huffman, Humble, Katy, Klein, La Porte, New Caney, Pasadena, Pearland, Sheldon, Spring, Spring Branch, Stafford, and Tomball.
HISD spends less on administrative costs than most other large Texas school districts – having an administrative cost ratio of 4.61 percent, which is less than those reported for Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, just to name a few.
The rate change largely results from cuts to public education funding that the Texas Legislature imposed in 2011, which cost Houston schools $75 million in 2011 and a total of $122 million in 2012. In the first year of those cuts, HISD balanced the budget by cutting expenses, resulting in layoffs in central administration and in schools.
In 2012, rather than imposing further cuts on schools, the HISD Board of Education agreed to address the remaining deficit though the use of one-time federal money, and by dipping into savings. The district also reduced the amount of general fund money that is normally transferred to the district’s debt service fund to help repay loans at a faster rate than is required.
The Houston Independent School District is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States with 282 schools and 210,000 students. The 334-square-mile district is one of the largest employers in the Houston metropolitan area with more than 25,000 employees.
For more information, visit the HISD Web site at www.houstonisd.org.