by Nicole Bradford
Pearland ISD on Tuesday adopted a total tax rate of $1.135 per $100 of value, a slight drop from the current year but an increase over the “no new revenue” rate that accounts for property value changes.
“Overall, our tax rate has dropped by .0023, and on the valuation of $100,000 that taxes are applied to, it’s actually a decrease of $2.30,” Superintendent Larry Berger said. “But if you compare it to no new revenue tax rate, that’s where it gets confusing and there’s an increase of 9 percent.”
The state requires taxing entities to label proposed tax rates as an increase or decrease based on the calculated no new revenue rate, the rate that would raise the same revenues from the same properties taxed the year before.
“The appraisal district is an arm of the legislature, and a lot of people don’t realize that,” Trustee Kris Schoeffler said. “They think it’s part of Brazoria County or that somehow we get to influence them. That’s just not true. We have no interaction with them. All of it comes from the state.”
Pearland ISD’s budget for the new fiscal year was adopted on June 11, and certified values were provided in July. The district is financially sound, and the budget does not have a deficit, Berger said.
The PISD tax rate includes 78.69 cents for maintenance and operations and 34.81 for interest and sinking — the portion of the tax rate that covers debt payments.
“As we stated: If the bonds were passed, and they were, the tax rate would remain the same for the (interest and sinking), that is 34.81, the same as last year and the same for this year,” Berger said.
