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Aug. 16, 2024
Volume 59 l Number 138
www.SEGUINTODAY.com
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The Voice of Seguin
WEEKEND EDITION
TODAY
Seguin ISD to hold voter approval tax ratification election Cindy Aguirre-Herrera
Mixing Family & BUSINESS
This month’s Seguin Today dives into the idea of working with family in two stories featuring local businesses Seguin Smiles and Backyard Lagoons. Grab your copy around town, at the KWED office located at 609 E. Court Street. Or read it online by clicking here.
Helping you find the right house to call HOME. Wayne Looff
210-862-4888
(Seguin) -- The Seguin ISD is turning to voters in hopes of no longer operating in the red. On Tuesday, the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees officially approved plans to move forward with a voter approval tax ratification election (VATRE) for November. A VATRE’s success allows districts to secure more revenue specifically designated for people and programs such as salary increases. This action comes a few months after the district announced that it was operating with a deficit budget of almost $4 million. Like so many other districts throughout the state of Texas, the Seguin ISD’s budget shortfall was largely due to the state’s inability to increase the per-pupil allotment. Officials say it’s been a few years since districts have seen an increase in funding. Chief Financial Officer Liz Oaks says the school district will
ask voters to approve a tax rate of $1.1028. She says that’s a decrease of .0138 per $100,000 of taxable property value. While she admits the language and the election process can be quite confusing, Oaks says this tax rate would maximize the amount of state funding the district receives. More importantly, she says generating these additional dollars through these “golden pennies” would all be done without impacting local wallets. “It’s not going to be a tax increase. It is still going to be a small tax decrease which makes no sense, right, because we are doing an election to pass a higher tax rate but it’s actually not a higher tax rate. Due to recent legislation, you have to have certain wording out there. The tax rate that they want us to refer to on the ballot is referring to the effective tax rate but that’s not the actual tax rate that people pay. Election, pg. 3