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Getting to the bottom line on PISD’s budget
By Patrick Graham
The Paris News
Published October 24, 2009
I’m going to try and take what is a fairly complicated subject, at least for me, and try and get it down to brass tacks for you.
There are two pots of money in the Paris Independent School District’s budget. Funding from one pot is used to pay for the system’s operating expense, while funding from the other is used to pay off the system’s debt.
A Tax Ratification Election is going on Nov. 3 — in fact early voting has already started for the election — that if passed would increase the tax rate paid toward the operating account and, through action of the school board, would lower the tax rate paid toward the debt account by a corresponding amount.
Although on the surface it sounds as though you would simply be robbing Peter to pay Paul, in reality voting to flip the rates makes PISD eligible for state dollars the system cannot receive if the two tax rates were to remain unchanged.
The ultimate result if the TRE passes: tax payers in PISD will pay less in local taxes, but making the change will enable PISD to receive $2.35 million in state funds it currently leaves on the table every year.
According to a brochure mailed to PISD voters, the increased revenue from the state will enable the system to do things like provide competitive salaries to retain and attract highly-qualified employees, enhance technology to ensure student success in a competitive global economy, take care of transportation needs, and maintain and repair facilities.
Seems like a no-brainer doesn’t it?
One warning: the wording of the ballot proposition can make this confusing. The way the ballot is worded only addresses the increase in tax rate for one of the funds, not the subsequent decrease in the other fund. The reason is because voters only control the tax rate for the operating fund, while the board controls the tax rate for the debt fund.
But the board has already agreed to reduce the debt fund rate if the increase in the operating fund rate passes, so rest assured your taxes will go down, even though the system’s tax revenue from the state will go up, if the ballot measure is approved.
We’ve already had a lot of information in the paper, and between now and Nov. 3 we will have a lot more, about the specific details of the tax proposal and how it will impact the budgets of voters and the school system alike.
You’ll hear more about the dollar per $100 valuation rates on both the Maintenance and Operation fund and the Interest and Sinking Fund and how they would change as a result of the election. You’ll hear about the board having already voted for one rate, although that rate is lower and different from the one on the ballot and so on and so forth.
In fact, by the time it is all said and done, you’ll hear a lot of information that would probably make you go cross-eyed trying to figure it all out.
That’s why I thought I would try, to the best of my ability, to bottom line it for you.
Just remember: Voting for the tax ratification election means you pay less in local taxes while the school system receives more in state funds.
Like I said, it’s a no- brainer. Really.
Patrick Graham is the publisher of The Paris News.
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