Sunday, May 19, 2024
Letter to the Editor: We’re one penny away
On Aug. 15, the Azle ISD School Board raised the school bond tax (Interest & Sinking or I&S) rate for the fourth year in row.
In the last four years, the Azle ISD school board has increased the bond tax rate by 73%, from 0.159 per $100 of home value in 2018 to 0.2741 per $100 this year. However, actual bond payments for the 2022-2023 budget year are set to be $6.5 million, which is less than in 2018-2019.
The board has, for the last four years, increased the bond tax rate regardless of if there were new bonds or if bonds were paid off. Why ever would they do this? Well, I don’t know, but I do know that the I&S tax rate before the “Penny Swap” election was 0.2890. You know how some people said they would “never” raise the I&S tax rate back up? Well, here we are four years later, and they are only one penny away.
Fortunately, state mandated Maintenance and Operations tax rate reductions have kept the overall rate slightly lower, but with the bond tax increases and the property values rising, the average taxpayer will pay $667 more in Azle ISD school taxes this year.
Tom Kisner
Azle
