CISD keeps same tax rate for 10th year
Photo by Britne Hammons
Canton ISD kindergarten teacher Jessica Drake welcomes her new students Madison James, Daisy Earl and Zoey Zielinski on their first day of school Aug. 15.
The Canton ISD Board of Trustees approved a tax rate of $1.471 Aug. 15 – the board has kept the tax rate steady for a decade.
“This is the 10th year we’ve been able to hold the tax rate,” Superintendent Jay Tullos said. “We’re hoping to keep that for a few more years.”
The tax rate breaks down as $1.04 for maintenance and operations and $0.431 for debt service.
The district’s taxable value for 2016 is $700,888,405. Almost 95 percent is from residential property tax and 5 percent from industrial and mineral taxes.
Trustees also approved the district’s budgets of $15.9 million for operating expenses, $721,344 for child nutrition and $3 million for debt service.
According to information from the CISD business office, the cost to educate a student in CISD – based on an enrollment of 2,107 and 176 days of school – is $9,344.50. That translates to $53.09 per day or $7.08 per hour.
In other financial business, trustees approved the redemption of two unlimited tax refunding bonds at a cost of $450,000. The bonds were set to mature on Feb. 15 of 2031 and 2032.
By paying off the bonds early, “the district will have a net savings of $280,585” in interest, said Business Director Denise Stone.
By paying off bonds before their maturity date, the district has saved close to $10 million, Stone said.
First day of school
Aug. 15 was the first day of school for Canton ISD students.
“The first day went pretty smooth,” Tullos said. “We’re off to a good start.”
Enrollment for the first day of school was about 2,100, he said.
Enrollment figures for the last school year were 2,127 on the first day and 2,070 on the final day.
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