Kennedale, Lake Worth school district voters approve tax increase; Crowley district voters say no

Lake Worth and Kennedale voters approved 13-cent property tax increases for their school districts in a special election Saturday, but Crowley voters rejected a similar measure.

Lake Worth residents will now pay the school district $1.67 per $100 of assessed property value. Voters approved the increase 61 to 39 percent. A similar proposal was defeated last year by 12 votes.

The increase will add $195 to the annual school tax bill on a home valued at $150,000.

It will allow the district to pocket an extra $1.6 million, which administrators have said will help erase this year’s $878,000 projected shortfall and last year’s $1 million deficit.

"We can breathe a sigh of relief and meet our budget expectations," said Superintendent Janice Cooper, whose district has about 2,700 students. "We’re still going to be conservative, but we can keep the ball rolling for another year."

Kennedale voters approved their tax increase by a nine-vote margin, 50.6 to 49.4 percent. Homeowners in the 3,000-student district will pay an extra $175 a year in taxes on a $150,000 home.

The district’s tax rate will be $1.49 per $100 of assessed value, up from $1.36.

Officials have said they will use the $1.2 million generated by the higher rate to make salaries more competitive with neighboring districts.

'Hard choices’

Crowley voters turned down the tax increase, 56.4 to 43.6 percent. The tax bill on a $150,000 home would have gone up about $383.

Administrators for the 15,000-student district had said that without a rate increase, there may not be enough money to staff and operate six schools set to open in the next three years.

This fall, the district faced its first budget deficit in years, a $4 million shortfall in a $118 million budget. The tax increase would have generated an additional $6.4 million.

"We’ve got some work left to do," Superintendent Greg Gibson said. "This is the only revenue-enhanced option we have. We’ll have to go to work Monday and listen to our stakeholders on where we go from here."

Officials prepared for the election by visiting with "several hundred" people at 42 meetings.

Gibson said the district could come back for another vote in as little as 60 days, but he said that will be a board decision.

"We’re faced with some challenging budget decisions," he said, "and we’ll have to make some hard choices in the coming months."

Crowley and Lake Worth were seeking to raise their maintenance and operation tax rates by 13 cents — the maximum allowed by state law — from $1.04 to $1.17. The remainder of a school district’s tax rate goes toward paying debt on capital projects.

The current state school funding formula has made it difficult for districts to cover cost increases, school officials have said, so many are turning to the voter-approved tax increases.