BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD SETS PROPOSED TAX RATE

  

The Brenham School Board approved adopting a proposed overall tax rate of $1.05 per $100 valuation at their noon meeting today (Thursday).  The proposed tax rate is 7 and ½ cents below last year’s overall rate.  The rate is composed of 97 cents for maintenance and operations and 8 cents towards the Interest and Sinking fund.  Even though the tax rate has gone down, the average homeowner will still see an increase in their taxes.  Last year, the average homeowner in the district had a taxable value of $161,696 but this year the value has increased to $177,191.  This equates to an increase in school property taxes of $41.43.  Board Vice-President Melvin Ehlert stated that many tax payers are going to be disappointed when they receive their property tax bill after hearing the politicians talk about how state is increasing funding to schools.

The proposed budget for the district is right at $50 million which is a 7 and ½ percent increase over last year’s.  Most of the increase is for teacher salaries, which the district is increasing $2500 or $4000 depending on years of experience.

Several new positions were also added, including 2 new hall monitors so that each campus will now have a hall monitor on duty as well as the Resource Officer positions.  Kim Weatherby, Director of Business & Finance for the district, says there is still a lot of unknowns concerning House Bill 3 and state funding:

The public will get a chance to comment on the proposed tax rate and budget at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Monday, August 19th at 6:00 pm at Brenham High School.

In other action, the board:

Approved the purchase of $43,000 in band instruments

Approved the purchase of instructional material for the new school year

Approved the Student Code of Conduct for the new school year