Carroll school board trustees are scheduled to vote tonight on a proposed estimated $82 million budget that includes at 1 percent salary increase for employees and is supported by a two-cent increase in the maintenance and operations portion of the property tax rate.
Voters will decide the fate of the 2-cent increase during a Sept. 15 Tax Ratification Election. In July, the board voted to adopt a tax rate of $1.42 per $100 of assessed property value. The board also decided to decrease the debt service portion of the total tax rate by 1.5 cents. (A Tax Ratification Election was triggered because the school board is considering raising the maintenance and operations portion by 2 cents.)
If voters approve the tax rate increase, residents would see a net tax rate increase of 0.5 cents, or about $25 per year. If the proposal is rejected, the total tax rate would be $1.40.
That hike is expected to generate about $1.1 million to help reduce a $3 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2012-2013.
The district expects to raise $691,000 from pay-to-ride fees.
The biggest cost to the district is instruction with an estimated $36 million expected to be spent on teaching. The second highest is expense is a $13.9 million payment to the state. Carroll is considered a property wealthy district and must send money to the state every year under the state's share-the-wealth school funding program dubbed Robin Hood.
Detailed budget information is available on the school district website. Want to review the agenda? Here's the site.
The board is meeting at Johnson Elementary School while construction is underway on a new administration center located in the former Carroll Middle School campus.
A public hearing on the proposed 2012-2013 budget is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., Monday Aug. 20, at Johnson Elementary School, 1301 N. Carroll Ave., Southlake. A vote on the budget is scheduled for later in the meeting.
-Diane Smith and Jessamy Brown