Blanco Independent School District voters have rejected, for a second time in as many years, a VATRE (Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election) proposal that would have raised property taxes by two cents. According to unofficial results, it was a difference of 140 votes.
“Of course, I’m disappointed,” said Superintendent Clay Rosenbaum, who spoke with the News on Monday, Nov. 10. “We were trying to be proactive. We don’t want to be in a situation two or three years down the road where we have to cut programs or personnel or increase class sizes.”
According to unofficial results released on Nov. 4, 1,103 ballots were cast for the VATRE and 1,243 against it. If it had been approved, the district would have been able to increase the M&O (maintenance and operations) tax rate by 2 cents, according to BISD, generating more than $476,000, in additional revenue for the district. The tax impact to an owner of a $450,000, home would have been just over $62 a year, after considering the homestead exemption. “The situation is that the state gave teachers a pay raise, which they absolutely needed and deserved, but it wasn’t the same case with other money going to the school district,” Rosenbaum said this week. “It wasn’t enough to get us out of the hole that we’re in.”
