Gonzales ISD to hold public hearing on budget, tax rate

Gonzales ISD will hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, to discuss the school district’s proposed budget and the proposed tax rate of 86.34 cents per $100 valuation. Public participation is invited.

The proposed budget is expected to increase total expenditures by about 2.82 percent. This includes a 2.54 percent decrease in maintenance and operations expenses and an 81.24 percent increase in bonded indebtedness.

The district currently has $65,300,000 in outstanding principal on its unpaid bonded indebtedness, which primarily came from its 2023 bond issue.

The board is proposing to adopt a maintenance and operations tax rate of 73.08 cents per $100 valuation and a debt service rate of 13.26 cents, which is still expected to generate $11,417 in local revenue per student compared to the state contribution of $1,831 per student. The state contribution is down $1,430 per student from 2023-24, while the local revenue per student has risen by $1,633 per student.

Last year, the district had a maintenance and operations tax rate of 73.31 cents per $100 valuation and a debt service rate of 9.16 cents as the district had a total taxable value of nearly $2.73 billion. Property values for the district increased to nearly $3.18 billion this current tax year. The average market value of residences in the district improved from $171,018 to $179,590. The average taxable value of a residence is expected to be about $85,447, up from $60,835 last year, which will lead to anticipated taxes due on an average house going from $501.71 to $737.75, an increase of about $236.04, which averages out to $19.67 per month more.

The district expects to finish the year with unencumbered fund balances of $12,388,426 in its M&O fund and $0 in its debt service fund.