JISD proposes lower tax rate

Jacksboro ISD tax payers will notice a slight drop in their tax rate after board members voted on their rate.

The rate dropped from $1.4264 per $100 valuation to $1.4234. The interest and sinking rate remained the same at $0.46, while the maintenance and operation dropped from $0.9664 cents to $0.9634 per $100 valuation.

A public hearing on both the tax rate and budget is set for 8 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31, at the JISD Administration Building, 750 W. Belknap in Jacksboro.

The budget is balanced with an estimated $12,450,399 in revenues expected. The board spent a lot of time discussing stipends for its athletic coaches. A study showed Jacksboro is one of the lowest paying in stipends in the area among similar size schools, something the coaches already knew.

“Our guys know they’re underpaid,” Athletic Director and head Football Coach Brannon Rodgers explained. “Our stipends haven’t kept up in our area.”

He also said that Jacksboro High School Principal Starla Sanders, formerly a coach, made the same stipend as coaches do today.

The average stipend is $10,214 while in Jacksboro it’s $6,700. In the new budget, that increases to $9,731.

Rodgers said the head coach of a sport makes an average of $500 more than assistants. The new budget takes effect Sept. 1.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Aug. 18, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.