TEMPLE, Texas — For the sixth consecutive year, the Temple Independent School District board of trustees has voted to lower the district’s tax rate. Trustees voted to drop the tax rate by 7.14 cents at the board’s meeting Monday night, September 11, and the tax rate remains at the lowest level for TISD since the 2010 tax year.
The board set the new tax rate at $1.1489 for the upcoming year with $0.7939 designated for the purpose of maintenance and operations and $0.3550 designated for the purpose of payment of debt service. TISD has now lowered its tax rate by a total of 25.14 cents over the past six years. The district was able to lower the rate primarily due to three factors: selling only a portion of the 2022 bonds, an increase in property values within the district and legislative tax compression.
“Temple ISD has and continues to manage taxpayer dollars with the utmost thoughtfulness and diligence. Through strategic planning of bond refinancing, and only selling a portion of the 2022 bonds that are needed at this time, we were able to deliver an overall tax rate that is lower than last year,” said Dr. Bobby Ott, superintendent of Temple schools.
During the board meeting, Ott thanked the district’s Office of Finance staff for their fiscal responsibility. He also pointed out the importance of once again lowering the tax rate after voters approved a $164.8 million bond package in May of 2022.
Temple ISD Board of Trustees president Dan Posey reiterated this point and thanked taxpayers, “We are grateful to the Temple community for your continued support of the 2022 Bond, and we are committed to being good stewards of their investment in our schools. We will continue to demonstrate the utmost fiscal responsibility with the resources that are entrusted to us.”