Published: August 19, 2008 03:26 am            

WISD to host meeting on rollback election

PALESTINE — Westwood Independent School District trustees and administrators are holding a public meeting to provide information and answer questions about the district’s upcoming tax rollback election set for Oct. 4.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Westwood Elementary School cafeteria, located at 2305 Salt Works Rd. in Palestine.

After hashing out financial details in a 2-hour public hearing July 30, WISD trustees adopted two budgets supported by two proposed tax rates — one based on a rollback tax rate of $1.17 per $100 of property values, and a smaller budget based on a tax rate of $1.04, four cents higher than the current rate of $1.005.

The budget based on the rollback tax rate of $1.17, which must be approved by the district voters in October, will allow the district to provide an additional $2,000-above-base salary increase for teachers, and a $1,000 raise for auxiliary personnel.

“Those raises increase the budget by over $500,000 and will give teachers a $3,000-above base salary,” WISD Business Manager Roxie Jackson told trustees in July.

The budget supported by the $1.04 tax rate — the one that will be used if the rollback election fails — will increase teacher salaries by $1,500 and auxiliary personnel by $750.

In addition to salary increases, some of the funds generated by the rollback tax would be used for planned facility improvements as well.

“If the rollback does not pass, obviously, we will have to go back, make some cuts and reprioritize the district’s facility needs,” WISD Superintendent Ed Lyman explained at the July meeting.

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Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

        

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