Marble Falls ISD trustees took another step Monday toward an expected request next year for bond money by agreeing to contract with an Austin firm that helps districts build bond programs.
That contract is with Pfluger Architects, which “provides school districts bond planning, master planning, programming, architecture, interior design, and contract administration services,” according to its website.
“It’s roughly going to be a $25,000 commitment for them with the VATRE and pre bond planning services,” MFISD Su- perintendent Jeff Gasaway told the board. “And then, if they were selected that there will be a percent of what they receive which is right in line with what we had in our previous agreement.”
A VATRE, short for Voter-Approved Tax Rate Election, “is triggered when a board adopts a tax rate that exceeds the district's voter-approval tax rate (VATR),” according to the Texas Association of School Boards. “The VATR is... the highest tax rate a board can adopt without holding an election. A district's adopted tax rate has two components: the dis- trict's debt service rate, or its interest and sink ing (I&S) rate, and its maintenance and operations (M&O) rate.
“While a bond elec- tion authorizes the is suance of bonds to generate funds for a district's buildings and infrastructure and to be repaid from I&S revenue, a VATRE approves an increase in the district's M&O tax rate, which can only be used for items related to programs and people, such as teacher salaries and stipends, training programs, educational programs, and other student activities, such as extracurricular programs,” the association continued.
"We definitely want to try to get this approved as quickly as possible, because we would like to hit the ground running right at the beginning of the school year to start our meetings,” Gasaway said.
He said board members can expect several meetings before the end of the year to craft how the bond proposal will read.
