MINERAL WELLS — Before Mineral Wells ISD's trustees were ready to vote Tuesday on the district's 2011 budget and tax rate, Board President Joe Ruelas repeatedly asked a room full of mostly empty chairs, “Does anybody in the public have any questions ... anyone?”

He might as well have been Ben Stein in the role of economics teacher asking for Ferris Bueller during roll call. His tries for a response went unanswered.

The MWISD board moved forward and approved the 2011 budget, amended the 2010 budget and adopted an ordinance levying a combined property tax rate of $1.24 per $100 taxable value, essentially the same as the previous year.

The district projects spending a total of $30 million in the new fiscal year, which began Wednesday.

The 2011 budget calls for a maintenance and operations property tax rate of $1.04 – the most a school district can adopt without calling for a tax ratification election. Chief Financial Officer Paul Hearn said he expects this to bring in just over $7.76 million for the general fund.

The budget also calls for an interest and sinking property tax rate of 20.10 cents per $100 value, which should generate revenues of $1.6 million to help pay off the district's debt service. The I&S payments go toward paying off the district's $13.95 million bond for Ram Stadium and additional classrooms and gymnasium at Mineral Wells Junior High.

Hearn informed board members that MWISD property values decreased by $12.729 million from last year. According to the Palo Pinto Appraisal District, certified taxable values for MWISD dropped from $848 million to $764 million. As a result, he said he expects property tax revenue to the general fund to decrease by about $160,000, but expects some increase in state revenue.

The district projects to take in total revenues of $25.375 million for the 2011 general fund, which includes other local and state sources. Hearn said this reflects a positive net change of $136,000 for the district from last year's budget.

The majority of savings came from budget cutting measures, Hearn said. He informed board members that the district was able to save $536,000 by not rehiring some staff after they resigned or retired. This helped offset budget increases, including step salary increases of $246,000 for teachers and paraprofessionals and $28,000 for cost-of-living increases for other staff.

Also on Tuesday – the last day of the fiscal year – board members amended the 2009-10 budget for just over $31 million. This included the final insurance settlement payment of $986,270, which came last week.

The district received a total of $5.891 million for roof damage caused by the April 2008 hail storm. Of this, $4.9 million came in the 2008-09 fiscal year and stayed in district's fund balance pending payment for repairs completed this summer.

Since the majority of insurance funds came in the 2008-09 budget, Hearn told board members the 2010 budget appears to show a $3.5 million loss.

“We realized most of the revenues last year. It has been sitting in the fund balance,” he explained.

Hearn and Superintendent Ronny Collins said the district plans to use $802,000 of the insurance funds to pay off the lease-purchase on the Ram Stadium bleachers that were pulled from the bond project during construction because of massive cost overruns.

The district then leased the bleachers, with annual 15-year payments having to come from the general fund, which goes toward paying expenses such as salaries, educational supplies, student services, extracurricular activities, maintenance, security and operating expenses.

He said he expects to pay off the bleachers in February when the next payment is due.

This leaves the district with $452,667 remaining from the hail-damage insurance funds. Of this, Hearn said the building committee would like to reserve $300,000 for capital projects.

“We'll leave the rest in the fund balance to build that up,” said Hearn.

Staff writer Libby Cluett can be reached at (940) 325-4465, ext. 3422, or lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com.