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Northwest ISD board adopts tax rates, sets voter-approval election and reviews June bond sale
Summary
The Northwest ISD Board of Trustees on a 7-0 vote adopted a maintenance-and-operations tax rate that triggers a voter-approval tax-rate election, voted to levy the debt rate, and heard a district report on an $800 million bond sale completed in June.
The Northwest Independent School District Board of Trustees voted 7-0 to adopt a maintenance-and-operations (M&O) tax rate of $0.6631 per $100 of taxable value and a debt service (I&S) rate of $0.421 per $100, and then approved an order calling a voter-approval tax-rate election for the proposed voter-approved pennies that are above the state’s compressed tax rate. Jonathan Patusic, district financial services presenter, told the board the action is needed so the district can hold a voter election on a “voter‑approved tax rate” and to complete required public notices.
The vote follows weeks of briefings on the district’s 2025–26 budget and an explanation of how state tax compression and local growth affect the millage calculation. “This tax rate will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year's tax rate,” Jonathan Patusic said, adding that the statement is a statutory requirement and that the technical effect is “effectively a negative 0.35%.”
The tax-rate package the board adopted keeps the district within the state’s newly published maximum compressed tax rate (MCR) framework while authorizing a voter-approval election for additional M&O pennies. Patusic told trustees the voter-approved pennies are projected conservatively to produce about $12,000,000 in additional M&O revenue for the 2025–26 year; the draft ballot language included at the meeting described an additional $14,324,215 in maintenance-and-operations revenue when comparing the current-year levy to the prior year’s levy, reflecting revenue growth from new construction and rising taxable values rather than a simple per‑mill rate increase.
Board members and staff emphasized how local growth and homestead-exemption changes interact with the rate. Patusic said the district’s compressed M&O rate from the state is 0.6331 and noted the district had previously used the 0.6669 figure in published notices because of timing: the notice had to be posted before the state issued the new rate. He also explained that the district sold bonds before the September 1 cutoff that made that issuance eligible for legislative “hold harmless” treatment for homestead-exemption changes.
At a later report, the district’s finance team reviewed the June 2025 bond sale that had been authorized earlier. The district sold roughly $800 million of the 2023 bond authorization; the final par issued was approximately $783 million, financed with a true interest cost of about 4.975% and a final maturity in 2055. According to the report, roughly $673 million of the sale funded Proposition A projects and about $126 million funded Proposition B projects. The sale was more than two times oversubscribed, the presenters said, which helped lower yields and produced additional premium that reduced the par amount required.
Board action and next steps: trustees approved the tax-rate resolution and the order calling the voter‑approval tax-rate election by unanimous vote, and they approved the ordinance levying the I&S rate. The board set the district’s required public notices and directed administration to publish ballot language for the election. Patusic and staff said if voters approve the voter‑approved tax rate the district intends to direct roughly $8,000,000 of the projected additional revenue to student programs (class-size reduction, fine arts restoration and similar classroom uses) and about $4,000,000 to recruiting and retention of staff; those allocations were described as the current plan and not formal appropriations until the budget is adopted.
The board’s action does not change that many homeowners will see a lower tax bill than last year, the district’s presenters said, because overall taxable values and a separate homestead-exemption increase affect individual bills. Patusic gave an example the district circulated showing the average home tax bill would be lower this year under the adopted rates and proposed homestead-exemption changes than it was last year.
No public protest or citizen motion altered the vote during the meeting. The district will publish required election notices and more detailed presentations online ahead of the election timetable the board approved.
