Hallettsville ISD: Focus on Facilities

The cost of the proposed gym/multipurpose building including dressing rooms, showers, and bathrooms in the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, weight room, basketball court with retractable bleachers for two full practice courts, dressing areas for boys and girls on visiting teams, dressing areas for referees and officials, coaches' offices, training room and medical equipment for injured student athletes and multipurpose room is $25.956 million. 

The term of the proposed bond repayment is 25 years. 

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the life expectancy of a public educational building is 50 years. 

The state assigns two types of budgets to school districts: The revenues for these budgets are generated by two tax rates; the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) tax rate and the Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate. 

M&O revenues come from both local taxes and state funding. The M&O budget is for instructional and everyday expenses.

I&S revenues are for paying down principal and interest on voter approved bonds. Each budget has a distinct tax rate based on local property values which together form the district’s overall tax rate.

School bonds are a way for school districts to raise money for capital projects, such as building or renovating schools and purchasing materials and equipment, by borrowing money from investors. 

The process is similar to a home mortgage, where voters decide whether to give the school district permission to take out a loan.

How school bonds work

Voters decide: The school board calls a bond election to ask voters for permission to sell bonds.

Bonds are sold: A financial institution sells the bonds and provides the money to the school district.

Bonds are paid back: The school district pays back the bond and interest over time using tax money (I&S tax rate).

Recent legislation has introduced the largest property tax rate reduction in Texas history. 

The combination of tax rate compression, which is part of the state’s current financing formula, and a $100,000 homestead exemption will DECREASE school property taxes annually for the average-priced home on homesteaded properties. 

What does that mean to me?

The average market value of a home in Hallettsville ISD is $222,169. According to the example below, the taxable value after the homestead exemption on the average home value is $122,169. 

The interest and sinking tax increase to pay back the bonds on the gym/multipurpose facility would be 8 cents resulting in a monthly cost of $8.14 or $97.74 annually to a taxpayer who owns a home with the average home value in Hallettsville ISD. 

For others in Hallettsville ISD who own homes that have a higher value or lower value, the tax impact can be calculated using the chart below.

Property owners aged 65 and older can file an exemption for school district taxes. Upon filing, no matter the school district’s tax rate, nor the value of your property, your taxes to your school district have a ceiling also known as a freeze. 

Your dollar amount owed will never exceed that ceiling from the date the exemption is granted. If improvements are made to your homestead in the future, your ceiling may increase but only for the improved section’s value (i.e. pool, barn, addition).

The impact of the bond will have no effect to individual’s homestead taxes that are aged 65 and older.

For more information

Bond Town Hall Meetings will be held at the HHS Gym on Ridge Street at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays (Oct. 2, Oct. 9 and Oct. 16). 

At these meetings, HISD administrators, architects, and district financial advisors will present information about the bond proposition, answer questions about the design and the financial impact of the project and provide tours of the current gym and athletic facilities.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 Election is Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. Additional election details are available on the Lavaca County Elections website at https://www.co.lavaca.tx.us/page/lavaca.Elections.

Early voting will run Monday, Oct. 21, to Friday, Nov. 1, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

For more information concerning the HISD bond election, consult the HISD website at www.hisdbrahmas.org/hisdfallbond.

How do we compare?

The following chart compares Hallettsville ISD tax rates to some of its competing districts.