San Benito school district mulls tax cut; officials look to trim spending

SAN BENITO — Folks around here can’t remember the last time the school district cut its property tax rate.

But they remember the district raised its tax rate to about $1.30 per $100 valuation about eight years ago.

Now, school board member Janie Lopez, the district’s finance committee chairwoman, is requesting officials conduct a feasibility study to determine whether trustees can try to cut the tax rate for the 2022-2023 school year.

“I told the district to look into it to see what we can cut,” she said Tuesday.

Since 2012, the district’s annual expenditures have climbed from $1.13 million to $1.34 million, Lopez said.

Meanwhile, she said, the district’s enrollments dropped from about 10,700 to 9,700 students amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of a formula, the state gives the district about $5,500 a year for each student in class.

“We have to revamp our spending,” Lopez said.

Proposal facing opposition

On the school board, Lopez’s proposal’s facing opposition.

“I think that’s a very dangerous path to take,” board member Orlando Lopez, the board’s past president, said. “It’s fiscally irresponsible for us to decrease taxes right now. We’re in the business of educating kids. We want the kids to have the resources they need to succeed. Lowering taxes could affect that. We want a stable financial base. We need to focus on all our staff and kids having all the resources they need.”

Board member Ariel Cruz also opposes the proposal.

“In theory, it’s a great proposal — of course, we’d love to lower taxes,” she said. “We have a responsibility to the taxpayers but our purpose on the school board is to advocate for the students.”

COVID-19 ESSER funds offsetting student attendance drop

Amid falling enrollment, the American Rescue Plan Act’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, grant money has been helping the district fund operations, Orlando Lopez said.

“My main concern is the decrease in ADA,” he said, referring to the district’s Average Student Attendance. “I don’t think now is the time we can lower taxes.”

Meanwhile, Cruz said a tax cut could lead the state to slash its funding levels.

“The funding that we get from the state depends on our tax rate,” she said. “If we lower that, they’re going to think San Benito doesn’t need the money so they’ll send less money.”

Cutting into spending

During the last year, the district has heavily spent, focusing on building up its police department, which has added nine positions, while funding employee salaries, Orlando Lopez said.

“We can save money by not giving teachers all these raises,” Cruz said. “But we have the money to keep our staff happy.”

Now, board members are debating spending about $400,000 to build tennis courts at Riverside Elementary School, Orlando Lopez said.

Like him, Cruz said a tax cut could end up forcing a tax increase.

“If we lower our taxes we’re going to have to raise them — and raising taxes is very hard to do,” she said. “It puts us in a situation where we’d have to cut staff and withhold student services.”

Feasibility study

Last week, Janie Lopez requested officials conduct a feasibility study to determine if the district could cut its tax rate.

“Our enrollment has gone down but yet our expenses have gone up,” she said during a Feb. 8 finance committee meeting. “Just because we do have the money doesn’t mean we should overspend. What can we do to save on costs as a district? Is there something the district can do to cut down on things we don’t need so we can save our taxpayers money also? The Number One priority is providing a quality education for our kids.”

Meanwhile, Superintendent Nate Carman described cutting taxes while continuing to offer quality education as “difficult.”

“Historically, in the last several years, we’ve done a really good job of providing services and benefits for our employees, we’ve taken on some projects and at the end of the day we’ve provided a high quality gold standard education,” he said. “That will be what you have to evaluate at the end of the day. What can we cut? What is worth cutting? What doesn’t cut into our kids and our employees? It’ll be difficult.”

Board President Ramiro Moreno and board member Oscar Medrano did not respond to requests for comment.