2021-22 Budget & Proposed Tax Rate Posting

Trustees,

We are posted on the agenda to vote on the budget and proposed tax rate this Thursday June 17, 2021. I have been trying to find the required legal posting per TEC 44.004 that Board President Weir should have ensured was completed (per TEC 44.004) but have not been able to locate these postings. When asked President Weir’s reply indicated that she was not aware these posting needed to be done before this meeting and vote.

I wanted to make the board aware that my understanding is we are not able to vote on the budget or proposed tax rate Thursday unless we can ensure the correct postings took place per TEC 44.004. This includes 1: a published posting in a newspaper and 2: on the district’s website. I will post more information below about the postings, but I cannot find them. If a Trustee knows where these postings were made and when they were posted, please reply here.

I would like to see these posting since we have asked for three different variations of tax rates, I wanted to know which set of rates were posted. I also wanted to understand how these required posting could have been done before our budget workshop last Thursday (June 10th).

Transparency for me is important and I want to ensure open and transparent government. For me personally this includes ensuring these types of postings are done not just at the minimum but with lots of visibility so our community can participate and understand how the largest property taxing entity may be impacting their taxes.

Here is some information from TASB that explains this required process (TASB School Law eSource; School District Budget and Tax Rate Adoption in 2021; 2021)
“Plan and publish notice of the budget and proposed tax rate meeting: When the budget has been prepared, the president calls a meeting of the board to adopt the budget. The president also provides for publication of the Notice of Public Meeting to Discuss Budget and Proposed Tax Rate. At least 10 but not more than 30 days before the date of the hearing, the district must publish the Notice of Public Meeting to Discuss Budget and Proposed Tax Rate (Texas Comptroller’s Form 50-280) in strict compliance with Texas Education Code section 44.004. Form 50-280 is available on the comptroller’s TNT website regarding Notice Requirements under School Districts.
• The notice must be published in a daily, weekly, or biweekly newspaper published in the district. If no such newspaper is published in the district, the notice must be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the district’s central administrative office is located.
• The notice must be at least one-quarter page of a standard-size or tabloid-size newspaper, and the headline must be in 18-point or larger type.
• In addition to other required information and calculations, the notice must state that a district may not increase its M&O tax rate to create a surplus in M&O tax revenue for the purpose of paying the district’s debt service.
• All districts must publish the notice and hold the public meeting, regardless of whether the tax rate is increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same.
• If a district does not comply with the notice requirements and the failure to comply was not in good faith, a district taxpayer is entitled to an injunction restraining the collection of taxes by the district.
Post a summary of the proposed budget: At the time the Notice of Public Meeting to Discuss Budget and Proposed Tax Rate is published, the district must post a summary of the proposed budget on the district’s website or at the central administrative office if the district has no website”