The Lindale ISD Board of Trustees voted Monday to hold a tax ratification election on Oct. 8 to raise a portion of its tax rate, but the overall rate will come in two cents lower than last year.

If approved, the measure would bring in an additional $275,000 in added revenue annually, according to the district. The funds would be used to enhance technology on campus through the purchase of tablets and enhance security at its elementary campuses through the purchase of cameras, locks and a buzzer system that would force all visitors through the front office.

The district plans on spending $400,000 on the security and 1,000 devices, with $125,000 of that coming from current budgeted funds.

Superintendent Stan Surratt said the district has a large number of desktop computers, but its initiative is to put a mobile device in the hands of each student.

“Our students are engaged with technology when they come home, but not while they are at school,” he said. “We have to change things. We need to put technology in their hands and in our instructor’s hands, and we are asking the community to help us.”

The tax rate a school district can charge is separated into two portions.

The first is for maintenance and operations (MNO), which is for the basic functions of the district including instruction. This portion is capped by the state at $1.04 per $100 property valuation unless the voters approve an increase. Lindale voters approved rising the rate to $1.06 in 2008, according to the district. The current tax ratification election, if approved, would raise the rate another two cents to $1.08.

The second portion is interest and sinking, or the district’s bonded debt, which must be approved by voters. The debt in Lindale comes to 35.5 cents per $100 property valuation.

Surratt said the school was able to lower its bonded debt this year by four cents from 39.5 cents in the 2012 tax year to the 35.5 in 2013. Surratt said the savings came when district was able to pay back a significant amount of interest on a 2009 bond with federal dollars.

“We were very fortunate (to get) some additional state money on those bonds to help pay off the interest rate,” Surratt said. “We didn’t know until after the rate was set (that the district was awarded) some federal grant subsidies and they paid off a large portion of the interest.”

Surratt said the district is also watching the market and considering reissuing a set of small bonds at a lower interest rate.

The district’s proposed tax rate, including the maintenance and debt sides, will come to two cents lower than the previous year to $1.435 per $100 valuation. For a home with a value of $100,000, the owner would pay $20 less than the previous year in taxes, or $1,435. The savings would rise to $200 for a home with a $200,000 value.

“This new rate will be lower than our current tax rate and generate some needed extra funding for the school district,” Lindale ISD School Board President Matt Watts said. “This is an excellent opportunity for our schools to continue to conservatively manage our funds and improve the quality of education we provide. The board of trustees is asking our community to continue to support the school district by coming out to vote in favor of the new, lower tax rate.”

If the tax ratification is approved by voters, the MNO rate would become permanent unless another increase is approved voters. The debt portion of the tax equation can go up or down as debt is added through bonds or paid off by the district.

The district could have opted to take out a bond to purchase the tablets and security measures, but Surratt said increasing MNO was in the best interest of the district.

“You get more state money revenue on the MNO than you do on the INS (debt) side,” Surratt said. “Locally, it’s the same. The homeowners don’t know the difference — everyone pays toward the penny. … But from the state, we get better funding.”

The funds on the MNO side also are without as many restrictions, whereas bond money can only be used for things within the terms of the bond, such as for a specific building or project.

Surratt said the $275,000 in added revenue would not completely cover the cost of the security measures and added technology.

Property values in Lindale are estimated to be up by 7 percent from 2012, and will bring in an estimated $200,000 into the budget.

The district also received about $1.4 million back from the state when the Legislature returned some funding cut from the previous biennium. Surratt said some of the funds would go to the new projects, as well as to items that were ignored in the tight budget years.

In the proposed budget, the district would purchase two new buses for about $260,000 and increase the workers compensation insurance pool by $100,000. Another $400,000 will be used to increase the teacher pay scale, which had been frozen, Surratt said. If the proposed budget is approved, auxiliary and support staff could see a 3 percent raise, and 2 percent for administrators, while teachers will see between $200 and $1,200 per year more depending on their time with the district.

If approved, Surratt said the plan is to distribute the tablets throughout the campuses. The devices would be put in each English class at the high school. At the junior high, 7th graders would get their own device, and 8th graders will share a classroom set. Elementary students also would share classroom sets of tablets, he said.

More devices would be added each year until each student had their own, he said.

“We are very confident the voters will support this design and this effort,” Surratt said. “It’s a community decision. If they decide not to do that, then we will have a slower approach in putting tech in the hands of kids and improving security at the elementary campuses.”