By Megan Wehring
DRIPPING SPRINGS – Dripping Springs ISD will have a lower tax rate.
At the Sept. 26 meeting, the DSISD Board of Trustees approved the annual tax rate. The newly adopted 2022 rate is $1.2929 per $100 of certified property value. The adopted rate represents a $1.74-cent decrease from the 2021-22 rate, which is the fourth consecutive year that DSISD has decreased its tax rate.
Over the four-year span, DSISD’s tax rate has decreased by a total of 22.71 cents.
The total tax rate of $1.2929 is comprised of two parts: $0.9429 for Maintenance and Operations and $0.35 for Interest and Sinking. The Maintenance and Operations (M&O) portion covers district operating costs such as salaries and benefits, utility bills, and supplies, and is subject to recapture. The Interest and Sinking (I&S) rate generates revenue that can only be used to pay off debt.
Property tax bills are a product of the tax rate and the property value. Therefore, property owners’ tax bills may increase even though the tax rate has decreased, according to DSISD. School district taxes are frozen for citizens who are 65 and older, have a general homestead exemption, and have taken steps with the Hays or Travis County Appraisal District to claim the additional exemption.
Based on state funding formulas for public schools in Texas, school districts that are classified as having revenue in excess of entitlement (under Chapter 48 of the Texas Education Code) cannot keep the increased revenue associated with higher property values. State funding formulas are tied to property values so these districts must send more money back to the state in a process commonly referred to as recapture.
For 2021-22, DSISD owed $11,200,000 to the state in recapture and estimates it will send approximately $20 million back to the state for the 2022-2023 school year, an increase of more than 78%.
