Lubbock-Cooper ISD Asks Voters to Ratify a Tax Increase. The District Puts It at $144 a Year.
Lubbock-Cooper ISD voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to ratify a tax rate that raises operating revenue 8.7 percent. Early voting starts Monday.
Voters in Lubbock-Cooper ISD will decide on Nov. 3 whether to approve a property tax rate the school board has already adopted. The ballot measure is Proposition A. Under state law, its ballot language opens with the words "THIS IS A TAX INCREASE."
Why there is an election
The board adopted a tax rate of $1.1969 per $100 of value on Aug. 17, according to the board's meeting agenda and the ballot language published by Ballotpedia. That is 69.69 cents for maintenance and operations and 50 cents for debt, KCBD reported. That rate is higher than the voter-approval rate the state allows a district to set on its own, so state law requires an election. The vote is called a voter-approval tax rate election, or VATRE.
The election notice says the rate would raise the district's maintenance and operations tax revenue by 8.7013 percent over last year. That is the money that pays salaries and day-to-day costs. The ballot language puts it at $3,072,732.
What it costs
The district estimates the average homeowner would pay about $144 more a year, KCBD reported. KCBD also reported that district documents show Lubbock-Cooper is still nearly half a million dollars short on its adopted budget.
Voters should weigh both facts. A district that is short on its budget has a real problem. A family paying $144 more every year has a real cost. Before casting a ballot, residents can fairly ask the district how the new money would be spent and what it would cut if Proposition A fails. They can also ask why the budget gap remains even with the higher rate.
How to vote
Early voting runs Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 30. The main early voting site is the Lubbock County Elections Office at 1308 Crickets Ave., open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 25, hours are noon to 6 p.m. Branch sites include several United Supermarkets and Market Street stores.
Those times and sites are listed in the election notice. On Election Day, Nov. 3, polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at county vote centers, including the Lubbock-Cooper ISD Administrative Offices at 13807 Indiana Ave. and Lubbock-Cooper North Elementary at 3202 108th St.
Mail ballot applications must reach Lubbock County Elections Administrator Troy Havard by close of business Oct. 23.
A simple majority decides it, and whoever shows up settles a bill every property owner in the district will pay. For how another district framed its rate election, see our look at Spring ISD's Prop A.
Hero photo: Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped and resized.
