BULLARD —  Bullard ISD will hold a public hearing on its tax rate and proposed budget at 6 p.m. Monday in the school's administration office, 1426 S. Houston St.

“We will have a hearing for anyone to say whatever they want to say about it, good bad or indifferent,” said Superintendent Keith Bryant.

Bryant said the proposed tax rate has remained unchanged for the five years he has been in the district, at $1.47 per $100 valuation. Of that $1.17 will go toward maintenance and operations of the budget and 30 cents will go toward the districts's debt service.

The average home in Bullard is worth $160,986, said Brent Stephenson, finance director for the city. For the average home, residents can expect to pay $236.65 in school taxes in 2013.

Bryant said the district is proposing a $19.46 million budget.

The general fund is  propose to be $15.83 million, $2.78 million in debt service and $844,000 for food service.

He said the budget is smaller this year because of a $300,000 loss in revenue from the state.

“We have had some enrollment growth, but we have less revenue to operate on so its a smaller budget,” Bryant said.

He said each department was asked to cut it budget by 10 percent and some teacher and aide positions were absorbed to save funding, but the district will maintain a full day of pre-kindergarten.

This is the second year for such deep cuts.

“We are down 30 to 35 percent from two years ago in every department,” Bryant said. “We cannot cut anymore. We are at the bare bones.”

The board will also discuss and possibly approve hiring DRV Inc., school finance experts, to work to retrieve funding the school may have missed in the system all districts use to report data to the state, called the Public Information Management System (PEIMS).

Bryant said the board approved an analysis early this year to double check the number to ensure the school is getting the maximum amount of funding from the state. For its service, DRV will receive 15 percent of the funds received from the state.

“It's a very complicated process,” he said. “You can't just call the state up and say, 'look at our numbers, send us a check for $10,000.”

The board could vote to begin the process if it approves another item to adjust the PEIMS for the Career and Technology Education (CATE) program, which provides funding for vocational programs such as health science, engineering and Agriculture. He said if approved the school could receive additional funds because of its enrollment.



Alto City Council

The Alto City Council will revisit a tabled discussion on an ordinance to include a regulatory fee for vendors and solicitors in the city at its meeting at 6 p..m Monday in city hall.

A record retention ordinance will be discussed and possibly approved and members will discuss water and sewer service for Guadalupe and Tovar

Rectifer bids for the utility department will also be discussed.