howeenterprise.com
Monday, September 2, 2019
Tax rates
Page #3 Continued from page 1
The chart above shows the overall amount taxpayers of Howe, Sherman, Denison, and Van Alstyne are proposed to pay per $100 in valuations for 2019-20.
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The City of Sherman who has been known for a low tax rate for many years has increased their rate each year since 2013 from $0.348 to the proposed budget this year of $0.489 - a significant amount considering the increase in valuations during that time.
Howe ISD's tax rate reduction was helped partially to legislative reform. "Recently passed legislation and the new House Bill 3 school finance bill have allowed us to lower our tax rate this year," said Kevin Wilson, Howe ISD's superintendent. "It compressed our M&O (Maintenance and Operations) tax rate by approximately 10 cents, and we were able to lower our debt portion by a penny, so the total Howe ISD tax rate went down by 11 cents."
Central appraisal districts were put in place in the early 1980s to make sure that all entities had one value for each piece of property. But recently, the local appraisal district has been aggressive with their procedures which plays a huge role with what people actually pay in Howe Mayor Jeff says that the city combined taxes. will bring in more money to cover While Grayson County's population rising costs due to an increase in has gone up only 8.5 percent over valuations which allowed the tax the past decade, taxes paid through rate to remain constant. the Grayson County Tax Assessor "When the city gets the tax rate Collector’s office from 2008 to 2018 show that the amount of taxes from the Grayson County Tax Assessor’s office, it is separated paid in the county increased by into three categories, effective rate, $77,402,074, or 57 percent. debt rate, and rollback rate," said "As a homeowner, I understand the Stanley. "Since the home and business property values have been frustration everyone has with going up, that makes the tax value increases from the appraisal decrease. The city can stay just district," said Whitmire. "Your under the rollback rate, or rate that appraisal is only half the formula that determines your taxes. The tax would call for an election, and rate is set by each taxing entity for generate more revenue for the city, the area that you live in. I can’t do even though it is the same rate as anything about the appraisal, but I the previous year." can sure do something about the Wilson says that he believes the rate set by the county." state should assume more of the burden of funding education and More heavily populated counties further reduce the emphasis on equate for a lesser tax rate. For example, Collin County's tax rate property taxes. for 2018 was $0.180785 compared to Grayson County's $0.4418100. "As a school district, our goal is to provide a quality education and "Population increases will demand maintain competitive salaries for more resources for our courts, jail, our staff," said Wilson. "The Howe community has always supported roads and other county responsibilities," said Whitmire. "I our efforts, and we do not take that for granted. As both the am committed to see that the burden of that growth be borne by superintendent and a taxpayer, I those new homes and businesses." strive to manage the district’s resources in a cost-effective manner and minimize the tax burden on our The City of Sherman and City of citizens." Denison have each paid $3 to 7 million of local taxpayer money in During this rocky climb of rising order to speed up state-funded valuations, fiscal responsibility has projects through TxDOT. The results of those decisions contribute been at the top of each of the local taxing entity's list of goals. to an increased tax rate for those cities, putting more of a strain on the taxpayers.
