(RED OAK, TX) — The Red Oak ISD School Board adopted the resolution on September 21, 2020, establishing the tax rate of $1.3592 per $100 of property value. This is a reduction of .0791 (5.5%) from the 2019 tax rate of $1.4383. The decrease was due to the reduction in the maintenance and operations (M&O) fund from $1.06835 to $0.9939. The interest and sinking (I&S) rate reduced from $0.37 to $0.3653.
The maintenance and operations budget funds daily costs and recurring or consumable expenditures, such as teacher and staff salaries, supplies, food, gas, and utilities. The I&S fund is used to repay debt for longer-term capital improvements approved by voters through bond elections.
“We value our taxpayers and have the goal of fiscal responsibility with the funds we are given,” stated CFO Bill Johnston. “Red Oak ISD will continue to watch every penny and seek cost savings to further increase staff pay and provide savings to our taxpayers.”
The Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 2) made changes to the process for adopting property tax rates starting this year. The M&O property value growth is capped at 2.5% and the Tier I and Tier II tax rates, which are combined to form the M&O, have phased-in compression based on growth formulas intended to raise the same amount of property tax revenue from the same taxable properties year to year.
The 2020-21 budget was approved by the Board in June and the adopted tax rates support the adopted budget.