CCBoE 07.14.2026 Special Called Meeting Notes
Tax Digest Millage Rate Presentation
Call To Order: 5:30 pm
Approval of Agenda: Yay 5, No 0
Tax Digest Millage Rate Presentation (I will link the full presentation when it gets uploaded to the district website tomorrow morning.)
CFO Alex Casado:
One mill is now worth approximately $9.2 million in property tax revenue.
The Tax Commissioner’s office calculated the rollback rate at 14.997 mills, an 8.25% reduction from the current 16.234 mills.
Even with the full rollback, the district would still collect about $305,000 more than last year because of growth in the tax digest.
The FY2027 budget assumed approximately a 3% increase in property tax revenue, which would be met with a rate of roughly 15.524 mills.
Casado estimated that adopting the full rollback would reduce expected revenue by about $4.7 million compared with the adopted budget, leaving the district with an estimated 19% fund balance, above the Board’s 15% policy minimum.
If the Board adopted the full rollback, no additional tax increase hearings would be required.
Board Discussion:
Chairman Dekle - Preferred tentatively adopted a rate above the rollback rate so that they could hold public hearings and receive additional public input, before making a full decision.
Katie Allen made a motion to tentatively adopt the full rollback rate of 14.997 mills, and Philip Kent seconded the motion. Yay: 3 (Teasley, Allen, Kent) No: (Dekle, Baker)
Allen: Last year we adopted the full rollback rate and still collected approximately $2.7 million more in property tax revenue because of growth in the tax digest.
Casado: If we have growth in the digest which outweighs exemption applications, then the revenue will grow.
Allen: Why would we come to taxpayers for more money when we just transferred $20 million from the General Fund to the Building Fund? Adopting the full rollback would require roughly another $4.7 million to come from the General Fund, and the General Fund is large enough to absorb that.
Casado: This would move the General Fund from about 20% of operating expenses to 19%. According to the board’s rules, we can’t go below 15% but 19-20% is a healthy fund balance level.
Baker: What do we use the General Fund for?
Casado: You can think of it as the savings account. There is some lag between now and when we collect property taxes, when we draw down the General Fund. The balance tends to increase/decrease in waves with revenues.
Because the Board tentatively adopted the rollback rate, the district will not be required to hold the three public hearings that would have been necessary if a higher millage rate had been proposed.
Executive Session
Following executive session, Chairman David Dekle made a statement that after the June 16 meeting, a contractor had objected to the scoring used to select the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the Greenbrier High School additions and renovations. An investigation determined that the district's outside program manager, Turner & Townsend, had used a different scoring methodology than the one previously used for the Harlem High School CMAR selection. Had the correct methodology been used, McKnight Construction would have received the highest score instead of Carroll Daniel Construction.
Katie Allen raised a point of order, noting the issue was not on the published agenda. Judy Teasley then moved to amend the agenda to add the item.
Allen: The affected contractors have not been notified and she questioned the need to take action tonight rather than waiting until the regularly scheduled meeting next week. She also noted that discussion on amending the agenda should occur before a vote under Robert’s Rules of Order. Chairman Dekle paused the meeting, confirmed that a motion to amend the agenda is debatable, and allowed discussion before the Board voted.
The Board voted 4-1 to amend the agenda, with Allen opposed.
Beatty: Turner & Townsend discovered the scoring error after the June 16 meeting and reported it to district staff. The corrected calculations showed McKnight Construction should have received the award and, in response to a question from Kent, said additional review of the scoring process would likely help prevent similar errors in the future..
Allen requested copies of the scoring matrices for the Harlem, Greenbrier, Evans, and Lakeside projects.
The Board then voted 5-0 to rescind the award to Carroll Daniel Construction and award the Greenbrier High School CMAR contract to McKnight Construction.
Adjourn: Yay 5, No 0