Perryton ISD trustees approve balanced FY2026 budgets, set tax rate; schedule Sept. 8 special meeting for field house funding

PERRYTON — The Perryton ISD Board of Trustees approved three sets of minutes, adopted a set of balanced budgets for fiscal year 2026 across operating, debt service and cafeteria funds, and approved a tax rate the board said will not increase total taxes for most property owners.

At the start of the meeting, trustees approved minutes of three prior meetings — the regular meeting of July 28 and special meetings of Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 — by voice vote, with the motion passing 6-0.

The board then voted 6-0 to adopt the district’s general operating budget (Fund 199), debt service budget (Fund 599) and cafeteria budget (Fund 240) for fiscal year 2026. Miss Moraz, a district staff member who presented the budget, said the district is again presenting a balanced budget across those funds and that a significant portion of the change reflected recent state-mandated pay increases.

“Nothing to add since we had our budget workshop. I went over the larger items, and then, of course, a significant amount of this is wrapped up in the raises. And the bottom number hasn't changed. We're presenting a balanced budget again this year in all 3 funds,” Miss Moraz said.

After the budget vote, the board moved to adopt an ordinance or resolution setting the district’s tax rate. A trustee read the proposed tax rates as 0.7122 for maintenance and operations and 0.31 for debt service. The board member said, “This tax rate will raise less taxes for maintenance and operations less than last year's tax rate. The tax rate will effectively be decreased by 6.96% and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $0.00.”

Another trustee added a clarification: “As I said in the during the budget workshop, our tax rate our total tax rate is not going up. This is not a tax increase. We did have to go up a few pennies on our INS, but that's offset compression. And, our community should still see a should a tax benefit with the extra $40,000 on the homestead exemption.” That motion also passed on a 6-0 vote.

Trustees then discussed the calendar for September. The board agreed to hold a special one-item meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 8 focused on the field house budget and to hold the district’s regular September meeting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 15. The board described the Sept. 8 meeting as a brief approval meeting to allow work to begin on the field house project.

The meeting concluded with the board noting the votes were unanimous and adjourning.

Notes on scope and limits: the board discussed the tax-rate figures and effects in the meeting transcript; the district characterized the total tax rate as not increasing and said the homestead exemption increase would offset some taxpayer burden. The transcript did not provide individual trustee names beyond informal labels or detail exact dollar changes to property tax bills beyond the statement that a $100,000 home would see approximately $0.00 change for maintenance and operations.