Cove ISD Proposed to Keep Tax Rate

The Copperas Cove Independent School District has proposed an $82 million budget for the 2014 fiscal year which keeps the property tax rate the same as the previous year.

Increased property values could still lead to an increased tax payment.

The Board of Trustees may set a public hearing on the budget and the proposed tax rate of $1.217 per $100 assessed property value.

$1.04 of the rate would be for maintenance and operations revenue, with $0.177 for debt service funds revenue. Overall, $13.3 million in revenue is expected for maintenance and operations.

Other figures from the budget include $15.5 million in revenue in federal Impact Aid funds, $37.2 million from state funding, $2 million from local funding, and $6.7 million from federal grants. $6.6 million in expenses from last year will be covered by this year's district fund balance.

$53 million will be spent on instructional support. Staffing takes up 77 percent of the budget.

$2.94 million in federal and state funding will be combined with $2.24 million produced by the debt service rate to cover $4.89 million in debt expenses.

$360,000 from this year's fund balance will cover the remainder.

The budget which has been proposed reflects a $4.7 million increase from the 2013 budget. Board members seemed to be in favor of the budget, which President John Manning commenting that the budget was good, though not ideal.