Trustees pass $6.1M budget, 96.34¢ tax rate

By Melinda L. Lucas

Albany ISD trustees passed a budget for the 2021-2022 school year during a special early morning session on Tuesday, Aug. 31, meeting the required state deadline.

Total expenditures are projected at $6,113,680, while revenues are listed at $6,323,932.

This is the first time in six years that the district has not dipped into its fund balance, at least on paper, with projected revenues expected to exceed expenses.

However, AISD superintendent Jonathan Scott said Tuesday that local revenue is again down from the previous year due to a lower Maximum Compressed Tax Rate (MCR) and lower local property values.

“The district forecasts an increase in the state funding due to an increase in student-weighted funding, largely due to the HB 3 clean-up bill from the 87th Legislative Session,” said Scott.

The superintendent explained that AISD is planning to utilize the ESSER III and ESSER II federal funding, part of COVID relief, to offset local revenue in several areas. 

“This will allow the district to extend some of the programs designed this year to address the student learning loss due to COVID,” he said.

The budget includes expenditures for a school bus to be purchased this year. 

“It’s been a few years since one has been purchased,” said Scott.

Trustees had agreed at a previous meeting that at least one new bus should be purchased this year to replace vehicles on the aging AISD fleet.

The motion to approve the budget was made by Ginny Ivy, seconded by Kim Neece Fuentes, with all four trustees present in agreement.

A motion by Kim Fuentes, seconded by Ivy, set the tax rate for 2021-2022 at 96.34 cents, less than last year’s 96.64-cent rate because of the mandated MCR.