Property tax bills to go up for LISD residents

From staff reports

Homeowners living within the Lockhart Independent School District’s borders will pay slightly more on their property taxes during the upcoming year, but that higher bill is due to rising property values, not a higher tax rate.
At its regular meeting on Monday evening, the Lockhart Independent School District’s Board of Trustees approved the 2021 total tax rate of $1.1297 per $100, a decrease of 3.74 cents from last year’s rate of $1.1671 per $100.
But although the Board approved a tax rate decrease, the total amount of estimated tax revenue for 2021 has increased due to local rising property values. While the tax rate is at its lowest since 2018, local taxpayers will see an increase in their collected school tax due to the increased property values.
Chief Financial Officer Nicole Dean said the average taxable value on area residences last year was $133,597 with a tax rate of $1.1671. This year, the average taxable value of residences in LISD is $150,788.
Although the tax rate has decreased, the increase in property values will result in an average annual increase of $144.24 in school district taxes for taxpayers.
“We are grateful to the Board for decreasing the rate for our local taxpayers,” Superintendent Mark Estrada said. “Because property values continue to increase regionally, we will each still experience an increase in total taxes collected. However, it will be less than it would have been because of the action the Board took this evening to lower the tax rate.”
In 2018, the district tax rate was $1.3324 per $100.
In the past three years, the Board steadily decreased the tax rate each year with a total decrease of 20.3 cents since 2018.
The increase in local tax revenue will result in the district receiving less funding from the state.
LISD’s 2021 tax rate is lower than neighboring San Marcos CISD’s rate of $1.170782 per $100 and Hays CISD’s rate of $1.3597 per $100.