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No change in LEISD tax rate
By Emily Hill, ehill@starlocalnews.com
The Little Elm ISD Board of Trustees approved the 2012-13 budget and tax rate on Aug. 20 at the regular board meeting. There was no change to the tax rate from the previous 2011-12 school year, and the budget includes salary increases for staff and teachers.
The tax rate proposed remains at $1.54 per $100 valuation. Broken down, the total tax rate is made up of the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate at $1.04 and the Interest and Sinking (I&S), which pays bonded indebtedness, at $0.50 per $100 valuation.
LEISD has not raised its tax rate since the 2008-09 school year, when it was $1.53 per $100 valuation.
"District employees are insured through TRS Active Care, and we do not control the rate of premiums," Julie Zwahr, director of communications, said in an email.
According to Director of Business Operations Linda Engle, auxiliary staff and paraprofessionals received a 2.5-percent midpoint pay adjustment. Teachers received a $1,200-per-year increase, and administrators and other staff received a 2-percent midpoint adjustment.
LEISD also hired 98 new staff and teachers for this school year. Engle said the district was able to hire new employees despite only a small increase in estimated revenues. The total taxable value of all property for this year is $1,667,190,090, which is up from last year's value of $1,657,328,247.
Engle said LEISD was able to make these moves because of a great deal of reviewing and analyzing how existing dollars were being spent, identifying expenditures/contracts that expired and were unnecessary for the new school year, negotiating the best contracts for required services and utilizing the fund balance for the difference.
In the budget, a deficit of $625,000 is shown, but the district utilized the general fund balance to make up the difference.
The general fund budget (M&O) is $43.6 million, and the debt service budget (I&S) is $10.8 million. Child nutrition provides $2,746,061. In total, the combined funds are $57,229,192. At the end of the 2012-13 school year, it is estimated that $16.5 million will be left in M&O and $2.5 million in I&S.
"The reason for the reduction to the fund balance is due to our district and Board of Trustees approving the 1:1 [Digital Learning] Initiative for all high school students," Engle said in the email. "The funds to purchase over 1,700 computers were taken out of the fund balance."
Zwhar said the Digital Learning Initiative was the largest expenditure for this budget cycle.
Compared to last year's budget, M&O saw a 0.7 percent increase and debt service increased by 6.68 percent. LEISD is expected to experience a 7.48 percent increase in total expenditures, compared to previous year's budget.
Estimated revenue for the 2012-13 school year is $42,985,122. Of the revenues, $20,812,249 is from the state, which is less than last year's revenue. Engle said that LEISD is projected to receive $1.1 million less in the 2012-13 school year than the district received in the previous year.
The district will receive $63 more local revenue per student at $4,667, and $288 less state revenue per student at $3,589 as compared to last year's rate.
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