COPPERAS COVE — In a unanimous action Tuesday, the Copperas Cove ISD school board approved the school district’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024, which includes an 18-cent drop in the property tax rate.
The board approved the 83.38 cents per $100 valuation rate Tuesday to go along with a $90 million budget.
The new rate is a large drop from the current rate of $1.0192 per $100 valuation, adopted by the board last August.
“It’s being compressed by the state,” said Earl Parcell, chief financial officer of the district, as he presented the budget. “The Maintenance and Operation tax rate shrunk, and our debt rate is going to stay the same.”
Broken down by the two, 75.75 cents of the tax rate will go for maintenance and operations, and 7.63 cents will go for the school district’s interest and sinking fund.
“All taxpayers will see a reduction in the tax rate — offset by an increase in property value probably,” Parcell said. “Then, there’s the $100,000 tax homestead exemption that’s thrown out there as well.”
Superintendent Joe Burns said Tuesday evening that the adopted tax rate is approximately 39 cents lower than it was when he became the top educator in the district in 2012.
This year’s budget, built around the $100,000 property tax exemption, which means that $100,000 of the property’s value cannot be taxed — pending approval by voters in November — calls for expenditures of approximately $90.1 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31, 2024.
The total figure means the district has budgeted for a nearly $6 million deficit, meaning expenses are expected to exceed revenue by around $6 million.
“This is for multiple reasons,” Parcell said. “The cost of everyday operational expenses are more, and then we gave teachers step pay raises, gave a 2% pay raise for clerical and auxiliary staff as well.
“Then, there’s some mandates that we’ve had to adhere to. Security was required. We’ve done that and some. Insurance went up significantly — 25% for property and liability insurance as well.”
Increased security measures to comply with a state mandate for armed security at all campuses is going to cost the district more than $1 million alone, representing a 75% increase in that area.
Despite the budgeted deficit, Burns said the district will continue to prioritize financial integrity and shoot for a lower number.
“Our plan is not to come in as a deficit budget at the end,” Burns said. “We’re working on position control, staffing, review and all those other things to squeeze as much as we can out of that — and never spend everything that’s allocated.”
Since the state began its Financial Integrity Rating System for Texas, Copperas Cove ISD has received the highest marks it can, a distinction Burns said he expects for this year as well.
“We will try to land this bird well within the footprint of the revenue that we have,” he said.
