Karnes City town and school district officials combined last month in a rare joint meeting to explain their new budgets and tax rates and set Nov. 6 as the date for a tax rollback election.

Karnes City ISD has proposed $1.17 per $100 property valuation as its new tax rate, which is actually lower than the $1.3184 of last year. But appraised property values have risen, and the Texas Legislature has capped rates, forcing more than 100 school districts to opt for tax rollback elections this fall.

"The district needs this tax rate to complete a list of capital improvements that seems to be getting longer," KCISD Superintendent Frances Penland said at the Sept. 11 meeting. This list includes the elementary school gymnasium, which is "increasingly unsound, and the district has to spend good money on a deteriorating gym to control asbestos and lead paint problems.

"This gym has many people concerned," she said, noting the gym is a Works Progress Administration building constructed during the Depression between 1938 and 1940. The old gymnasium was actually incorporated into the new elementary school.

The junior high science labs also need improvement, Penland said. Some improvements have been made to high school science labs in recent previous years.

"If our community expects Karnes City ISD students to be competitive with their counterparts across the state, then we must provide them with as equitable an opportunity as possible," Penland said. "Your school board members spent many, many hours grappling with the decision of whether or not to adopt a tax rate that would prompt a rollback election. I admire so much of the decision-making process I witnessed. Every member entered into this thoughtfully, and I suspect prayerfully.

"As your new superintendent, I was torn on the decision regarding a rollback election for Karnes City ISD," she added. "Intellectually, I know it makes good business sense. Politically, I have not been here long enough to know the feelings of the community."

More than 40 taxpayers attended the Sept. 11 joint meeting of KCISD board and the local city council.

The state, under 2006’s House Bill 1, has limited a school district’s ability to set a tax levy of more than $1.04 per $100 valuation without calling a rollback election. Provisions in House Bill 1 include equalizing funding to poorer districts such as Karnes City, KCISD Business Manager Wayne Block said.

"HB 1 is quite equitable in that a property poor school received additional funding from the state, and a property rich school pays money to the state, so they each have similar resources per student," Block said. "Unfortunately, the Legislature left almost no adjustment for inflationary cost trends."

He said the inflation rate is 2.5 percent, so a $10 million 2006-07 budget will require an additional $250,000 in 2007-08 to maintain the same educational services.

"As a result, most school districts in Texas must plan to increase taxes beyond the rollback rate in the very near future, or consistently cut their expenditures by the inflationary increase in costs each year," Block said. "With approximately 80 percent of Texas school district monies expended on personnel (through state-mandated raises in teacher pay), this obviously leads to a decrease in staff every year for every school district in Texas, rollback tax rate elections, or both."

Early voting for KCISD’s proposals – along with 16 state constitutional amendments – begins Oct. 22 and ends Nov. 2 for those registered voters 18 and older. If voters miss the early voting opportunity, they may vote on Election Day, Nov. 6.

If voters on Nov. 6 wish to support the KCISD board’s $1.17 tax rate, they would vote "for" it on the ballot. Karnes City ISD is requesting a Maintenance and Operations tax rate of $1.14 and a debt service rate of $.0311 for a total tax rate of $1.1711 per $100 land value.

KCISD Board President Dennis Mika added that KCISD would receive an additional $506,000 from the $1.17 rate. This combines $192,000 from local taxes and $314,000 from redirected state funds.

"With an increase in property appraised value, our taxpayers will be paying approximately the same tax dollars that they paid last year," Mika said.

If voters do not wish to support the district recommendation of $1.17 per $100 valuation, they would vote "against" on the ballots. If the majority of voters reject the proposed tax rate, it will regress to $1.0711.

The last time KCISD asked voters for additional funds was in 1998 for construction of four additional classrooms and a computer lab in a new wing and to pay for new roofing.

Penland said the district owes $505,000 on previous bonds.

"This figure tells you just how conservative this district has been over the years," Penland said, adding that the district will not come back to ask for a bond election unless Karnes City sees a massive population growth.

Mika said without the rollback election, KCISD would not have access to the state funding dollars. He added that he is optimistic voters will approve the $1.17 school tax rate.

"Decisions made in the past included tearing down the old elementary school and replacing it with a new, modern school (in 1988). Another decision was made (in the early 1980’s) to build a new junior high school building. These new buildings provided a safer environment as well as an enhanced learning environment with new, clean rooms with advanced learning tools," he said. "I think voters will see the need to upgrade our buildings to make our campuses safer for our students."