Friday, November 8, 2024

Lake Worth ISD school board addresses tax rate concerns

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LAKE WORTH — On Oct. 21, during a school board meeting, the Lake Worth Independent School District board of trustees addressed concerns raised about taxes being raised.

Lake Worth ISD Board President Velazquez started the discussion by saying he was made aware of a text message a school board member had received from someone expressing concern about the school district raising taxes.

Velaquez invited the district’s Chief Financial Officer Trent Dowd to come up and explain the misconception.

Dowd explained that there are two elements of the school district tax rate: the Maintenance and Operations or M&O rate, and Interest and Sinking or I&S rate. The M&O rate is the day-to-day tax rate formula which funds the district. The I&S rate is for the district’s bonded debt.

Dowd said the board approves the tax rate every year and this is also a combination of the M&O rate plus the I&S rate.

The tax rate — along with the tax rates approved by applicable counties, cities and other taxing entities — is applied to each individual property’s assessed value to calculate how much the property owner owes in taxes.

“This (increase residents are seeing) is the Tarrant Appraisal District,” Dowd said. “They evaluate properties and we have no say in that. They send those properties to us by July 25.”

Dowd noted a decrease in LWISD’s M&O from 2020 to 2021, but property values increased by 41%. There was a big jump from 2020 to 2021 when the district went out and sold bonds to do some maintenance on Lucyle Collins Middle School.

Dowd explained that the Tarrant Appraisal District determines how much taxpayers pay in taxes.

“Our Lake Worth ISD tax rate has decreased since ‘21,” Dowd said. “It has decreased by over 17%. It's gone down every year since 2020, 2021. The problem is — and what we have no control over — is that our property values have gone up by 41%.”

Dowd reassured the board that the school district is projected to keep lowering its rate, but property taxes continue to rise.

“So, we are continuing to lower that tax rate,” Dowd said. “The problem is, is we simply have not been able to keep up with property values. Across the state, statewide, they continue to go up.”

Dowd expressed his own belief that a reason why property taxes have gone up is that the district has added more commercial property.

For more information about property tax rates in Lake Worth, Texas, go to 2024_tax_rate_notice.pdf or go to Budget and Tax Ordinances | Lake Worth, Texas and Property Tax.