No Fat Cats at MISD.

The McKinney ISD school board recently voted to reduce the 2007-08 tax rate of $1.517 per $100 assessed value, down from $1.84 for the 2006-07 school year. The 2005-06, taxes were assessed at a rate of $2 per $100 assessed value. That's our second tax decrease in as many years. Board member Mark Rude said, “Historically, our financial staff has done a good job of keeping us three to five percent below budget. In fact, last year, we generated a surplus for the district”.

While Texas has long been one of the few states with no personal income tax and no corporate income tax, our local tax rates have always felt high. McKinney hovered around $3.00/$100 of assessed value for sometime as did most of the growing suburbs. Frisco and Little Elm with Frisco schools were always the lowest in the area due to the large commercial tax base Frisco has. There's a list of all the rates listed on the Collin County Appraisal District website. The local rate is based on city rate, Collin County Community College District, Collin County, and the school district rate. The maximum school tax rate in Texas is $1.50 which most cities in Collin County spent the last several years maxed out. It appears that McKinney is leading a trend to lower taxes without cranking up the tax base value.