Header:
Texas Annotated Statutes
TAX CODE
TITLE 1. PROPERTY TAX CODE
SUBTITLE D. APPRAISAL AND ASSESSMENT
CHAPTER 26. ASSESSMENT
Date:
03/17/2014
Document:
§ 26.08. Election to Ratify School Taxes
(a) If the governing body of a school district adopts a tax rate that exceeds the district's rollback tax rate, the reg-istered voters of the district at an election held for that purpose must determine whether to approve the adopted tax rate. When increased expenditure of money by a school district is necessary to respond to a disaster, including a tor-nado, hurricane, flood, or other calamity, but not including a drought, that has impacted a school district and the gov-ernor has requested federal disaster assistance for the area in which the school district is located, an election is not required under this section to approve the tax rate adopted by the governing body for the year following the year in which the disaster occurs.
(b) The governing body shall order that the election be held in the school district on a date not less than 30 or more than 90 days after the day on which it adopted the tax rate. Section 41.001, Election Code, does not apply to the election unless a date specified by that section falls within the time permitted by this section. At the election, the bal-lots shall be prepared to permit voting for or against the proposition: "Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $ per $ 100 valuation in (name of school district) for the current year, a rate that is $ higher per $ 100 valuation than the school district rollback tax rate." The ballot proposition must include the adopted tax rate and the difference between that rate and the rollback tax rate in the appropriate places.
(c) If a majority of the votes cast in the election favor the proposition, the tax rate for the current year is the rate that was adopted by the governing body.
(d) If the proposition is not approved as provided by Subsection (c), the governing body may not adopt a tax rate for the school district for the current year that exceeds the school district's rollback tax rate.
(d-1) If, after tax bills for the school district have been mailed, a proposition to approve the school district's adopted tax rate is not approved by the voters of the district at an election held under this section, on subsequent adoption of a new tax rate by the governing body of the district, the assessor for the school shall prepare and mail corrected tax bills. The assessor shall include with each bill a brief explanation of the reason for and effect of the cor-rected bill. The date on which the taxes become delinquent for the year is extended by a number of days equal to the number of days between the date the first tax bills were sent and the date the corrected tax bills were sent.
(d-2) If a property owner pays taxes calculated using the originally adopted tax rate of the school district and the proposition to approve the adopted tax rate is not approved by voters, the school district shall refund the difference between the amount of taxes paid and the amount due under the subsequently adopted rate if the difference between the amount of taxes paid and the amount due under the subsequent rate is $ 1 or more. If the difference between the amount of taxes paid and the amount due under the subsequent rate is less than $ 1, the school district shall refund the difference on request of the taxpayer. An application for a refund of less than $ 1 must be made within 90 days after the date the refund becomes due or the taxpayer forfeits the right to the refund.
(e) For purposes of this section, local tax funds dedicated to a junior college district under Section 45.105(e), Edu-cation Code, shall be eliminated from the calculation of the tax rate adopted by the governing body of the school dis-trict. However, the funds dedicated to the junior college district are subject to Section 26.085.
(f) [Repealed by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 396 (S.B. 4), § 3.01(c), effective September 1, 1999.]
(g) In a school district that received distributions from an equalization tax imposed under former Chapter 18, Ed-ucation Code, the effective rate of that tax as of the date of the county unit system's abolition is added to the district's rollback tax rate.
(h) For purposes of this section, increases in taxable values and tax levies occurring within a reinvestment zone under Chapter 311 (Tax Increment Financing Act), in which the district is a participant, shall be eliminated from the calculation of the tax rate adopted by the governing body of the school district.
(i) [2 Versions: Effective until September 1, 2017] For purposes of this section, the effective maintenance and operations tax rate of a school district is the tax rate that, applied to the current total value for the district, would im-pose taxes in an amount that, when added to state funds that would be distributed to the district under Chapter 42, Education Code, for the school year beginning in the current tax year using that tax rate, including state funds that will be distributed to the district in that school year under Section 42.2516, Education Code, would provide the same amount of state funds distributed under Chapter 42, Education Code, including state funds distributed under Section 42.2516, Education Code, and maintenance and operations taxes of the district per student in weighted average daily attendance for that school year that would have been available to the district in the preceding year if the funding el-ements for Chapters 41 and 42, Education Code, for the current year had been in effect for the preceding year.
(i) [2 Versions: Effective September 1, 2017] For purposes of this section, the effective maintenance and opera-tions tax rate of a school district is the tax rate that, applied to the current total value for the district, would impose taxes in an amount that, when added to state funds that would be distributed to the district under Chapter 42, Educa-tion Code, for the school year beginning in the current tax year using that tax rate, would provide the same amount of state funds distributed under Chapter 42, Education Code, and maintenance and operations taxes of the district per student in weighted average daily attendance for that school year that would have been available to the district in the preceding year if the funding elements for Chapters 41 and 42, Education Code, for the current year had been in effect for the preceding year.
(i-1) [Repealed September 1, 2017] For purposes of Subsections (i) and (k), any change from the preceding school year to the current school year in the amount of state funds distributed to a school district under Section 42.2516, Education Code, is not considered to be a change in a funding element for Chapter 42, Education Code. The amount of state funds distributed under Chapter 42, Education Code, and maintenance and operations taxes of the district per student in weighted average daily attendance for that school year that would have been available to the district in the preceding year if the funding elements for Chapters 41 and 42, Education Code, for the current year had been in effect for the preceding year is computed on the basis of the amount actually distributed to the district under Section 42.2516, Education Code, in the preceding school year.
(j) [Repealed September 1, 2017] For purposes of Subsection (i), the amount of state funds that would have been available to a school district in the preceding year is computed using the maximum tax rate for the current year under Section 42.253(e), Education Code.
(k) to (m) [Expired pursuant to Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1187 (H.B. 3343), § 2.11, effective January 1, 2009.]
(n) For purposes of this section, the rollback tax rate of a school district whose maintenance and operations tax rate for the 2005 tax year was $ 1.50 or less per $ 100 of taxable value is:
(1) for the 2006 tax year, the sum of the rate that is equal to 88.67 percent of the maintenance and operations tax rate adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year, the rate of $ 0.04 per $ 100 of taxable value, and the district's current debt rate; and
(2) for the 2007 and subsequent tax years, the lesser of the following:
(A) the sum of the following:
(i) the rate per $ 100 of taxable value that is equal to the product of the state compression percentage, as determined under Section 42.2516, Education Code, for the current year and $ 1.50;
(ii) the rate of $ 0.04 per $ 100 of taxable value;
(iii) the rate that is equal to the sum of the differences for the 2006 and each subsequent tax year be-tween the adopted tax rate of the district for that year if the rate was approved at an election under this section and the rollback tax rate of the district for that year; and
(iv) the district's current debt rate; or
(B) the sum of the following:
(i) the effective maintenance and operations tax rate of the district as computed under Subsection (i) or (k), as applicable;
(ii) the rate per $ 100 of taxable value that is equal to the product of the state compression percent-age, as determined under Section 42.2516, Education Code, for the current year and $ 0.06; and
(iii) the district's current debt rate.
(o) For purposes of this section, the rollback tax rate of a school district whose maintenance and operations tax rate for the 2005 tax year was greater than $ 1.50 per $ 100 of taxable value is computed in the manner provided by Subsection (n) except that the maintenance and operations tax rate per $ 100 of taxable value adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year is substituted for $ 1.50 in a computation under that subsection.
(p) Notwithstanding Subsections (i), (n), and (o), if for the preceding tax year a school district adopted a mainte-nance and operations tax rate that was less than the district's effective maintenance and operations tax rate for that preceding tax year, the rollback tax rate of the district for the current tax year is calculated as if the district adopted a maintenance and operations tax rate for the preceding tax year that was equal to the district's effective maintenance and operations tax rate for that preceding tax year.
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