Eagle Pass ISD board appoints facilities committee after bond-capacity presentation

The Eagle Pass Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to appoint a facilities improvement committee to begin a five-year district facilities improvement plan after a presentation on potential bond timing and tax impacts by financial advisers from PFM.

The board approved the administration’s request to form the committee in a motion by Trustee Morris Lipson, seconded by Trustee Tom Gonzales; the motion passed by voice vote. The meeting also included a presentation from Blake Roberts, managing director and partner at PFM, on bond-market conditions, the district’s debt capacity and how state support could affect tax-rate impacts.

Why it matters: the committee will inventory campus needs, prioritize projects and inform whether the district should place a bond measure before voters. Bond authorization would affect the district’s debt service tax rate; PFM presented multiple scenarios showing how the same bundle of projects could change taxpayers’ bills depending on the total authorization and the amount of state debt-service support.

Roberts told the board that while headline interest rates for mortgages and taxable borrowing…