Carroll ISD tax rate remains unchanged

Taxes are not going up in the Carroll ISD.

Trustees approved a $1.415 tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation at their meeting Monday evening. The tax rate remains unchanged from the 2009-2010. However, because most property values went down in Southlake, the average property owner in the district could see a decrease in the amount of taxes they pay to CISD.

The tax rate will not cover the district’s budget shortfall of $2.3 million. Instead, the district will use its fund balance to cover the shortfall.

Even with the budget deficit, some district staff will receive pay raises, as mandated by House Bill 3646, which was signed by Governor Rick Perry in June 2009. The law requires yearly pay raises for teachers, nurses, librarians, counselors and speech pathologists. As a result, the district is giving “step” increases to these employees based on the district’s hiring schedule. Most of the employees will receive pay increases of about $300, but the amount can vary depending on years of experience. The district will also give identical salary increases to occupational therapists, physical therapists and diagnosticians since they have always been on the same salary schedule as teachers and other employees who work with students on a daily basis.

Carroll ISD originally faced a $4.3 million budget shortfall, but trustees cut $2 million from that by using the district’s expenditure reduction plan. Among the cuts were $1 million in central administration programs, as well as reducing the funding for travel and staff development. Some of the biggest savings were made by the elimination of 13.5 staffing positions, which occurred through attrition rather than a reduction in force and saved the district $742,500. The cuts were necessary after CISD saw a drop in enrollment of about 100 students, making the district overstaffed at some campuses.

The district’s budget also includes a Chapter 41 “Robin Hood” payment of $12,529,626 to the state. As a property wealthy district, CISD must make the payment to the state. The payment was an increase over last year’s payment, which was $9.8 million.

At the Monday meeting, the board also approved the sale of bonds to help cover the construction of a new middle school on Kirkwood Boulevard and a new elementary school on White Chapel Boulevard. The bonds were approved by voters in 2009 and the money from them should be available to the district by Oct. 14.

In the superintendent’s report, David Faltys said that the district had a slightly higher enrollment than originally projected. The district currently has 7,646 students, nine more than district demographers projected.

The district also had seven campuses named to the 2010 Texas Business Education Coalition Honor Roll. Those campuses include five elementary schools: Carroll, Durham, Johnson, Old Union and Rockenbaugh; as well as Eubanks Intermediate and Dawson Middle School. The principals of these campuses will be honored at a reception Nov. 15 in Austin.

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