TEMPLE, Texas — For the fifth consecutive year, the Temple Independent School District board of trustees has voted to lower the district’s tax rate. Trustees voted to drop the tax rate by 1.5 cents at the board’s meeting Monday night, September 12, and the tax rate remains at the lowest level for TISD since the 2010 tax year.
The board set the new tax rate at $1.2203 for the upcoming year with $0.9105 designated for the purpose of maintenance and operations and $0.3098 designated for the purpose of payment of debt service even after the initial bond sale of $100 million. TISD has now lowered its tax rate by a total of nearly 18.0 cents over the past five years. The district was able to lower the rate primarily due to three factors: selling only a portion of the 2022 bonds, an increase in property values within the district and bond refinancing that lowers debt service costs. Temple ISD is also operating at 6.4 cents under the state allowed cap for maintenance and operations this year.
“Temple ISD has and continues to manage taxpayer dollars with the utmost thoughtfulness and diligence. Through strategic planning of bond refinancing, and only selling a portion of the 2022 bonds that are needed at this time, we were able to deliver an overall tax rate that is lower than last year,” said Dr. Bobby Ott, superintendent of Temple schools.
During the board meeting, Ott thanked the district’s Office of Finance staff for their fiscal responsibility. He also pointed out the importance of again lowering the tax rate after voters approved a $164.8 million bond package in May of 2022.
Temple ISD Board of Trustees president Dan Posey reiterated this point and thanked taxpayers, “We are grateful to the Temple community for your support of the 2022 Bond and we are committed to being good stewards of their investment in our schools. TISD has lowered the tax rate over 18 cents in the last five years through responsible fiscal planning.”