MISD Bond Election
by Donna Gill
March 01, 2010
Miami ISD Board of Trustees has officially called for a school bond in the amount of $8 million. Early voting will begin on April 26 through May 4 at the Roberts County Clerk’s Office in the Annex building. Election Day is Saturday, May 8 at the Miami Community Center. With the bond proceeds the District is looking at purchasing new transportation such as suburbans, route buses, and an activity bus. The proceeds will largely be spent on renovations of the existing facilities. The Trustees have been working with WD Architects out of Amarillo to design plans to meet the District’s needs. The facilities have not been update or renovated since the tornado in 1969. The Trustees have been very conservative with the district’s finances over the years and has established a fund balance of $3.5 million. The school’s operating budget is $2.1 million. As many of you are probably aware, Miami ISD is a “wealthy” school district because of the revenue generated primarily from natural gas. Due to this “wealth” label the state of Texas has given the District, Miami sends 85% of its property tax to the state to be redistributed to other school districts. In the 2008-2009 school year Miami ISD sent $7 million dollars to the state. In the 81st Legislative Session the school finance bill will allow a school district to drop below their effective tax rate for one year and then return to their effective tax rate the next year without having a roll back election. The Miami ISD Board of Trustees are interested in this because the state says if the District goes below $1.00 (the effective tax rate) then the state will take 90% of our property taxes. In the opinion of the Trustees we have to either be at $1.00 or $0. Miami ISD Board is proposing to flip its Maintenance and Operation (M&O) tax with its Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax for the allowed one year. Miami ISD has been at a $1.04 for the M&O and $0.03 I&S for the past three years. By flipping the tax rates, Miami ISD will not collect any M&O taxes which are used on the daily operation of the District. Since the District has a substantial fund balance, it will sustain the M&O portion of the school’s finances. In short, the M&O tax rate will be $0 and the I&S rate will be $1.07. All taxes collected will be kept locally for the first time since 1992! The taxes collected for Miami ISD will be used for the transportation and renovation needs. However, due to the decrease in the values of natural gas the District is planning on values being down 50%. We will not know the exact number until June. Being conservative, the District is planning on only spending around $5 million of the possible $8 million. Not raising taxes for property owners in Roberts County is very important, if possible. With the rate flip, the District is planning on paying off the bond in one year and then going back to $1.04 M&O and $0.03 I&S for the 2011-2012 school year. For the first time in eighteen years 100% of the taxes raised in Roberts County can be spent in Roberts County and not down South! The Bond Advisory Committee has established several meetings with various groups and organization to explain this process to the voters. There will be a public meeting on Tuesday, March 23 at 7:00 in the school auditorium. If you have questions, please contact the school or email me at donna.gill@region16.net.
