Reagan County ISD approves 2026–27 budget and a proposed $0.14 per $100 debt-service rate

The Reagan County Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously June 8 to approve the district’s 2026–27 budget and a proposed debt-service tax rate of $0.14 per $100 of taxable value. The motions passed with two trustees absent.

Board members said the excess revenue from the higher debt-service rate would be used to defease bond issues and reduce future interest payments. The transcript records that the proposed rate exceeds the district’s debt-service rate calculated under Texas Education Code section 44.004(c)(5)(A)(ii)(b), which the minutes cite as $0.08, by $0.06. The motion to approve the proposed debt-service rate was made by Trustee Freddy Acevedo and seconded by Trustee JJ Weatherby; the motion carried unanimously. The 2026–27 budget was approved on a separate motion recorded as made by Billy Hodge and seconded by Freddy Acevedo; that motion also carried unanimously.

Why it matters: adopting a higher debt-service rate raises tax collections earmarked for debt and can affect taxpayers’ bills while providing funds the district says will lower long-term interest costs through defeasance. The board set no implementation date in the public minutes; additional steps required by state law (public notices, tax-rate adoption procedures) were not detailed in the transcript.

The actions recorded in the meeting minutes include formal vote tallies or the notation “motion carried unanimously” for both the tax-rate motion and the budget adoption. The board also noted the legal reference to Texas Education Code section 44.004(c)(5)(A)(ii)(b) in explaining the statutory comparison for the district’s debt-service calculation.