[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[8:46] I would like to announce that a quorum is present, the meeting is duly called and notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act.
[8:54] The time is 6pm. The following board members are in attendance. Dr. Stacey Barker, Page Dixon, Alison Lasson, Madison Lopez, Jenny Prosnick, Katherine Cells and Dr. Sheila Taylor.
[9:08] And now we'll do the pledge of allegiance in the Texas pledge.
[9:10] All
[9:46] right, public comments are next on the agenda, but we do not have any speakers.
[9:52] I will, I will read though if you're here to comment specifically on item E, the public hearing for the 2627 budget.
[10:00] And proposed tax rate. Those comments will be taken during that dedicated agenda item later in the meeting. Please be sure and sign up on the sign-in sheet located on the table next to the agenda's as you enter the boardroom.
[10:13] Okay, so now we will go to the public hearing on the 2627 budget and proposed tax rate.
[10:21] Notice who this public hearing has been published in accordance with state law.
[10:26] We will begin with a presentation followed by public comments on the proposed budget and tax rate.
[10:31] I will now turn the meeting over to Mr. Rare for the presentation.
[10:36] All right. Thank you and good evening.
[10:38] Tonight we will finish looking at the 2,026,227 budget and tax rate.
[10:47] And the first us slide that I wanted to highlight is the budget guidelines.
[10:51] So just as a reminder, according to Education Code,
[10:56] the board must adopt a budget by August 31st for the following funds,
[11:00] which would be fine $199 general fund,
[11:03] 240 child nutrition and $59 debt service.
[11:11] And then on our budget timeline, tonight's public hearing
[11:14] to adopt the budget.
[11:15] It's a culmination of a lot of work that's been done over many months.
[11:18] And so we started the process back in December of 2025.
[11:23] And we had many presentations and discussions
[11:26] on the budget with the board during the spring
[11:29] and summer of 2026.
[11:34] So some of the parameters that we're using
[11:36] for the to adopt the budget would be an enrollment projection
[11:40] of 45,125 students estimated ADA of 41,966
[11:47] our T2 values are just under 57.3 billion and we're assuming a 99% collection rate for our property taxes.
[12:01] So now as we take a look at the tax rate as well as the budget, you'll see on the first line for maintenance and operations.
[12:09] There's a comparison between the proposed rate for 202627 as well as the current year of 2026.
[12:18] And so for maintenance operation, we would be going from 0.7869 down to 0.7469, so a reduction of
[12:26] 4 cents for the MNO tax rate. The interest in sinking tax rate would remain steady at 0.3309, so the overall total tax rate would decrease from the current year by
[12:38] 4 cents down to 1.0778.
[12:44] This slide also provides a high-level comparison of revenue, expenses,
[12:49] other resources, recapture, and our projected deficit for fiscal year 27.
[12:55] And I'll go into that in a little bit more detail on these upcoming slides.
[13:00] So I did want to highlight on the tax rate.
[13:02] As I mentioned, the total tax rate of 1.0778.
[13:06] This is a decrease of four cents from the previous year.
[13:11] So looking back at historical records for the district,
[13:14] the earliest tax rate that I could find was 1999.
[13:18] The proposed tax rate for next year will be the lowest tax rate
[13:21] that the district has had since 1999.
[13:25] The total tax rate, in fact, has decreased by 69 cents
[13:29] or 39 percent since it peaked in the years 2002 to 2006.
[13:35] So this next slide takes a look at the average tax bill and so it's looking at the average
[13:44] taxable value of residents for both the current year and the proposed 202627, what the tax rate
[13:52] that would be used on a hundred dollars of value and then what the taxes do on the average
[13:58] residents would be. So you'll see here that the average taxable resident is going to slightly
[14:04] from 425,000 up to 429,000, as I mentioned, our tax rate is decreasing, so overall that would
[14:12] provide a reduction of $122 in property taxes that are paid to the district for the average
[14:20] residents. One thing I wanted to highlight on this earlier, I mentioned that the tax rate
[14:25] has gone down significantly. The average tax will value has actually increased in the district
[14:31] by $250,000 or a 140% since the same time limit I mentioned earlier.
[14:39] So you'll hear some conversation about the biggest struggle for the affordability of housing
[14:44] in Texas and you'll hear it's because of property taxes.
[14:48] Just want to remind you there's two different pieces that factor into that.
[14:52] The district's tax rate and other entities' tax rates and the appraised value of a resident.
[14:57] So, as you can see, based on...
[15:00] Our records really what's driving the large increases significant increase in praise and praise values.
[15:09] So now as we take a look at fiscal year 27 proposed revenue and expenditures, for the general fund, the proposed budget includes revenue of 545.0 million, expenses of 565.3 million, other resources of 13 million,
[15:27] And just to recall, 10 million of that will be a funds that are being set aside in fiscal year 26 out of an estimated surplus that we're going to have, and then the remaining 3 million will be from the sale or lease of property.
[15:44] When we look at our general fund revenue for the 545 million, the majority of that is from local revenue sources, so that makes up 83% and that's primarily property tax collections.
[15:56] We received 16% from the state and 1% from federal sources.
[16:03] Now, this slide will share some highlights on the revenue side that are included in the next year's budget.
[16:10] I just wanted to focus on one of those right now.
[16:13] The state funding that we're expected to receive is actually decreasing from our fiscal year 26 adopted budget by just over 15 million.
[16:22] And this is mainly due to declining enrollment in ADA.
[16:27] So here you'll see general fund expense broken out by major object category and so the majority of our budget
[16:34] Almost 83% is for payroll and benefits and then contracted services make up almost 13%
[16:42] This slide on the expenditure side provide some highlights as well and I wanted to highlight that the first one
[16:49] That professional salaries have decreased from last year's budget by 2.2 million and
[16:55] And there's two reasons for that. The first one would be, we've decreased the expected
[17:00] fill rate from 99% to 98% to more aligned with what we saw in fiscal year 26. And then
[17:06] we also are right sizing campus staffing to align with declining enrollment.
[17:12] For the child
[17:13] interest in budget, we're proposing a balanced budget.
[17:20] And then on debt service we are looking
[17:22] at a surplus of 2.5 million.
[17:27] And so this next slide will show that all of the local or all
[17:31] proposed revenue for debt service is from either property tax collections, which is the majority
[17:37] of it, and then we have a small piece that is further than the interest earnings that we earn
[17:42] on those property tax collections.
[17:49] And then on the debt service expense, 67% is on principle payments that we
[17:55] make during the year, 33% is interest, and then we have very small debt service fees that are acquired during the year.
[18:04] So now as we take a look at fund balance, a board policy CE local provides fund balance targets for both the general fund and debt service fund.
[18:15] So the fund balance target for fiscal year 27 for general fund is a 131.2 million and for debt service the target is 10% of our annual debt service payment.
[18:27] And so this fund balance target is 18.9 million.
[18:33] So on this slide, it illustrates that at the end of fiscal year 26,
[18:39] we are projecting to increase fund balance.
[18:42] And then our projected fund balance at the end of fiscal year 27,
[18:48] although decreasing due to our proposed budget deficit,
[18:51] would still exceed our fund balance target at your end.
[18:59] This slide, and we'll present this later in the evening with the proposed budget.
[19:07] But the board, as I mentioned earlier, required to approve the budget by function for the general fund,
[19:14] child nutrition fund, and debt service fund in this slide illustrates those funds.
[19:21] And then here we provide some general fund budget highlights,
[19:25] two that I wanted to highlight. The first one is Functional 11, which is Instruction, is
[19:32] makes up 58% of our budget. And then Function 41, which is General Administration that makes
[19:39] up 2% of our budget.
[19:43] And so with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.
[19:48] Okay. Thank you, Mr. Rear. Do we want to go ahead and ask him any questions that we have
[19:54] are just as we go. No?
[19:57] Let's see if we need to have questions from Mr. Rue.
[20:00] Okay, missiles?
[20:04] Okay, and this is just more of a comment because I think that, and it's really going into the legislative season, and just would love to have not tonight, but would just love to have the difference that the potential difference that it would make if we had full funded enrollment instead of ADA.
[20:27] And so, and I know that that's been the norm, it just I think really stuck out to me today and tonight as we were looking at that number just the impact that that could have.
[20:45] So, just winner.
[20:47] Okay, we can get that.
[20:50] Okay.
[20:52] All right.
[20:53] I will now declare the public hearing on the 26-27 budget and propose tax rate open, and it's
[21:01] my understanding that we don't have anyone who has signed up to speak, is that correct?
[21:06] Okay, so just throw, I believe these are employees that are in the audience, so, in which
[21:13] I suppose you could speak if you want it, but I'm guessing you don't, okay, all right, if there
[21:21] know further comments. I will declare this public hearing closed.
[21:27] All right. Now we're going to move on to action items.
[21:31] We're going to consider approval of final year and 20 25 25 26 budget amendments Mr. Rare.
[21:40] This agenda item includes three year and budget amendments. The first one budget amendment number three is for the general operating budget.
[21:47] This increases the budget for function 71 for lease accounting requirements per gas be 87 and 96 that are recorded at year-end by our auditors.
[21:58] This also adjusts the general fund budget to match projected actuals for this fiscal year.
[22:04] Budget amendment number 4 is for the child nutrition fund.
[22:08] And this adjusts the child nutrition budget to match projected actuals for fiscal year 2526.
[22:14] And then budget amendment number five is for debt service.
[22:19] This also increases the function 71 to match projected actuals.
[22:24] The significant increase on this budget amendment that we've talked about in previous
[22:28] meetings, but it's due to the full principle payment that was due on one of our 2010 bonds,
[22:35] as well as the 4.2 million defiesment that we're doing as part of the fiscal year 26 debt management
[22:41] point.
[22:44] All right. Thank you. Would someone like to make a motion on this item? Miss Lopez.
[22:52] I move that the board approved budget amendments three, four, and five for the general fund
[22:57] child nutrition fund and debt service fund as presented. Is there a second?
[23:03] Miss Dr. Taylor? Is there any discussion?
[23:09] Seeing none. We'll take a vote. All those in favor?
[23:12] All right. Motion passes 7-0. All right. Item number two. Consider a approval of the debt management plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year, Mr. Rare.
[23:27] As part of the annual review of the debt management plan, the Board considers Defeasants and refunding opportunities for the upcoming year.
[23:34] The Board also considers a pool of underwriters.
[23:37] These items were discussed at the August 3rd Work Session.
[23:41] The agenda item is for the approval of the debt management plan for fiscal year 27.
[23:48] All right.
[23:48] Thank you.
[23:49] Would someone like to make a motion?
[23:51] Ms. President.
[23:53] Thank you.
[23:54] I move that the Board approved the debt management plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year as presented.
[24:01] Do I have a second?
[24:05] Is there any discussion on this one?
[24:09] All right.
[24:10] Seeing none, we'll take the vote.
[24:11] All those in favor?
[24:14] Motion passes, 7-0.
[24:18] Item number three.
[24:19] Consider a resolution committing the two that
[24:22] Ephesians and our redemption of certain outstanding bonds of
[24:26] Louisville independent school district for the
[24:32] Included in the board book are the districts callable bonds through August of 2030
[24:37] Before in the work session, we we discussed the possibility of phoenix the
[24:42] 2028 maturity of the 2017 a bond and so included is the
[24:50] Resolution that would allow the district to move forward with that and this
[24:54] Redemption opportunity would provide
[24:58] That service payments
[25:00] Approximately 7.6 million, and would provide net interest savings to the taxpayers of 997,000 dollars.
[25:11] Right, thank you. Would someone like to make a motion? Missiles?
[25:16] I'd move that the board adopts a resolution for the defense and or redemption of certain
[25:22] of Lewisville independent school districts outstanding unlimited tax bonds.
[25:27] Do I have a second?
[25:30] Dr. Barker,
[25:33] is there any discussion?
[25:35] Any comments?
[25:37] All right.
[25:37] Seeing none, let's take a vote.
[25:39] All those in favor?
[25:41] All right. Motion carries 70.
[25:45] All right.
[25:45] Item number four.
[25:47] Consider an order authorizing the issuance of unlimited tax refunding bonds,
[25:53] appointing a pricing officer and delegating to the pricing officer,
[25:57] the authority to approve the sale of the bonds,
[25:59] Establishing certain parameters for the approval of such matters,
[26:04] levying an advalorum tax for the payment of the bonds,
[26:07] and enacting other provisions relating to the subject
[26:10] for the 2026-27 fiscal year, Mr. Rare.
[26:15] This agenda item provides parameters for the district
[26:18] to refund ed in fiscal year 27,
[26:21] if the established parameters are met.
[26:23] The parameters that are listed in the board book
[26:26] are consistent with the ones that we had for this current year.
[26:31] All right, thank you.
[26:32] Would someone like to make a motion?
[26:34] Dr. Barker?
[26:35] Thank you, Madam President.
[26:36] I move that the board adopted order authorizing
[26:39] the issuance of unlimited tax refunding bonds,
[26:42] appointing a pricing officer
[26:44] and delegating to the pricing officer,
[26:46] the authority to approve the sale of the bonds,
[26:49] establishing certain parameters
[26:50] for the approval of such matters,
[26:52] levying an annual advolorem tax
[26:54] for the payment of the bonds,
[26:56] and enacting other provisions relating to the subject for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
[27:02] Thank you, is there a second?
[27:05] Mr. Dixon.
[27:08] Is there any comments or discussion?
[27:12] Seeing none, let's take a vote.
[27:13] All those in favor?
[27:15] Motion passes 7-0.
[27:19] Item number 5.
[27:20] Consider approval of selection of underwriters for the 2026-27 fiscal year, Mr. Rear.
[27:27] A board policy CCA local requires that the board approve a pool of underwriters on an annual basis before or at the time of budget adoption.
[27:36] Included in the board book is the recommended pool of underwriters for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
[27:44] Thank you very much. Would someone like to make a motion?
[27:49] Dr. Taylor?
[27:50] Madam President, I moved that the board approved the pool of recommended underwriters for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
[27:58] as per board policy, CCA local.
[28:01] Thank you to have a second.
[28:03] This is pros and cons.
[28:07] All right.
[28:07] Is there any discussion or comments?
[28:11] All right.
[28:11] Seeing none.
[28:13] Let's vote.
[28:13] All those in favor?
[28:15] Motion carries 70.
[28:19] All right.
[28:20] Item number six.
[28:21] Consider acceptance of the 2026 certified values
[28:24] from the Ditton Central Parasal District
[28:26] and Tarrant of Parasal District
[28:28] and the estimated collection rate for 2627.
[28:32] Mr. Rare.
[28:33] A Texas tax code requires the chief appraisers to prepare and certify to the assessor for each taxing unit that part of the appraisal rule for the district that lists the property taxable by the unit.
[28:44] Both the Denton Central Pricil District and the Terran Pricil District have submitted certified values.
[28:50] The certified values from both the Pricil District are included in the Boardbook for consideration.
[28:55] And the estimated collection rate that I mentioned earlier for 202627 is 99%.
[29:03] Thank you very much. With someone like to make a motion, Mr. Dixon,
[29:09] I move that the Board
[29:10] accepts the 2026 Certified Values from the Denton Central and Racial District,
[29:15] and Tarrant of Racial District, and acknowledge receipt of the estimated collection rate of 99%
[29:21] for 2026 through 2027. Do I have a second? Is it cells?
[29:29] Is there any discussion or comments?
[29:32] Seeing none, all those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. All right, item number 7. Consider
[29:41] adoption of 2026-27 budgets for the General Fund, Child Nutrition Fund, and that service
[29:47] fund, Mr. Rare.
[29:49] Beginning on page 95 is the district's budget book. Page 96 includes the proposed budget
[29:55] by function for the boards approval tonight. That was discussed during the public hearing
[30:00] For the general fund, charteration fund, and debt service fund. And before we get there, I do want to take the time to thank Claudia and Stacey for all their work on both budget book but also throughout the budget process. It's a very time consuming process and I just appreciate everything that they do throughout it.
[30:20] Thank you. I would also like to address that there's several of them in the audience. So thank you guys all for all your hard work. We appreciate everything you do and taking the time to be here tonight. Thank you.
[30:32] All right, would someone like to make a motion?
[30:35] Missiles?
[30:37] I moved that the board adopts the general fund, general or child nutrition fund and debt service fund budgets for the fiscal year ending August 31,
[30:47] 2027 as presented.
[30:49] Thank you. Do we have a second?
[30:51] Miss Lopez?
[30:53] All right. Do we have any comments or questions here?
[30:57] Seeing that, let's take a vote. All those in favor? Motion carries 70.
[31:06] All right, item number eight, consider approval of 2627 maintenance and operations tax rate and the 202627 interest and seeking that service tax rate. Mr.
[31:20] The 2,026-27 tax rates needed to support the general fund and debt service fund budgets are presented for board consideration.
[31:29] As I mentioned earlier, the MNO rate is recommended to be decreased by 4 cents from 0.786-9 to 0.746-9 due to the expiration of the four disaster pennies from last fiscal year.
[31:40] The INS rate is recommended to stay the same as fiscal year 26 at .3309.
[31:47] The total tax rate for $2,627 of $1.078 per $100 in tax will value represents a decrease
[31:55] of 4 cents from the previous rate, and, as I mentioned, is the lowest tax rate for the district
[32:01] since our records dating back to 1999.
[32:04] The total proposed rate of 1.0078 is less than the new revenue tax rate and the voter approval tax rate.
[32:13] Included in the board book is an ordinance to approve the M&O, INS, and total tax rate for 202627.
[32:22] All right. Thank you to have a motion. Miss Prasney.
[32:26] I move that the Board of Trustees adopts the 2026-27 tax rate ordinance as presented with a total tax rate of $1.0778 per $100 of property value, which consists of an M&O tax rate of $0.7469 and an INS tax rate of $0.339.
[32:54] I further move that the ordinance fixing and living school district at the Lorm taxes for the school year 202627 be approved as presented.
[33:04] Do I have a second?
[33:06] Dr. Barger?
[33:08] Do we have any discussion or comments?
[33:10] Ms. Bros.
[33:12] I'll be brief.
[33:14] This is my 11th budget.
[33:17] And there have been changes in those years and how we get here and how we set the tax rate.
[33:21] And I want to take a moment to clarify something that often seems confusing to our community,
[33:26] school districts in Texas, and to some of our legislators.
[33:30] The maintenance and operation rate or M&O is not chosen by local boards.
[33:34] It is set by the Texas Education Agency using formulas created by the 87th legislature in 2021.
[33:42] Each year, T.A. calculates the exact M&O rate a district must adopt.
[33:47] We don't raise it, we don't lower it, we simply adopt the number the state gives us.
[33:54] The interest in seeking rate, or INS, is also not a discretionary discussion.
[33:59] It's a math problem.
[34:00] As discussed tonight, it is based on the approved bonds the community has already authorized,
[34:06] and the property valuations provided by the Denton Central Paisal District
[34:10] and the Terran County, the Central Paisal District.
[34:13] Once a voter approved bonds, the district is legally required to pay them back.
[34:18] The INS rate adjusts automatically to meet these payments depending on valuations.
[34:23] It is not a policy choice, it's an obligation.
[34:27] So when people say school districts are raising taxes or lowering taxes or coming after
[34:32] your taxes that simply not how the system works, we are simply here as a checkmark on the system.
[34:40] This board has no authority whatsoever when it comes to your local tax rate.
[34:46] That lies as it states with your legislature.
[34:54] All right. Does anyone else have any more?
[34:57] Discussion in our comments?
[35:01] All right, if there's no further discussion, let's take a vote. All those in favour?
[35:06] All right, motion carries 70. If I could just make one little comment, Miss Melissa Cobb, this will be her last board meeting with us here in Louisville, ISD. She's going to another ISD.
[35:24] And I just wanted to thank you for your service to us and please know that you will be sorely missed and we wish you well in your future endeavor.
[35:36] Okay. If there is no further business this meeting is adjourned. The time is 627pm.