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Everything you need to know about special district funding

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Everything you need to know about special district funding

Special districts in Texas generate revenue from different sources. Some special purpose districts collect money to fund their activities, whilst others rely on property tax revenues. Non-enterprise and enterprise special purpose districts can issue bonds to pay for improvements. The bonds can purchase new library premises or pay for a new dam. Special purpose districts’ total bonded debt is about $13 billion.



The general obligation bonds of special purpose districts are backed by taxes and require two-thirds voter approval. The revenue bonds of special districts are paid from users' fees and do not need voter approval.



On the other hand, enterprise districts rely on non-tax revenues like user charges. Enterprise districts’ costs are related to the services offered and this makes it easy for them to recoup their costs through fee collection.



Non-enterprise districts bill the beneficiaries of their services in very rare cases. They mainly rely on property taxes to pay for their maintenance and operation costs. Tax revenue used by these districts comes through regular allocations of tax.



Loss of funding for special purpose districts

A lot of special purpose districts have faced hard financial times over the last century. Before Proposition 13, they received about $945 million from property taxes alone. Their property tax revenue, however, dropped to about $532 million and this is a loss of about 50%.



Responding to this hardship, the legislature created the SDAF to offer supplemental income for special districts. State money was sent by the state government to the SDAF in every county based on the state law formula. The supervisor of the county allocated the SDAF money to the special purpose districts within their counties. A greater percentage of funding for schools was done by the state to help local governments get through the transition of proposition 13.



State officials shifted about $4 billion annually in taxes from the local government after facing huge state budget deficits between 1992 and 1994. The property tax revenue generated in ERAF supports schools.



Reserves

Special purpose districts’ financial reserves have become very controversial. In the year 2000, a report revealed that special purpose districts reported more than 19.5 billion dollars in reserves to the state controller. Enterprise special purpose districts, which charge fees, have the most reserves.



This is a lot of money and it raised a red flag for the public and policymakers. Why were the special-purpose districts setting aside a lot of money? How were they planning to spend the money? Special purpose district leaders responded by arguing that there are legit reasons for the reserves. Nearly all the cash in the reserves was allocated into the funds for given purposes. Big reserves are required to accumulate capital to pay for large projects. They also provide a safety cushion and stabilize consumer rates. It then became clear to legislators and tax payers that special districts Texas should improve the way they report their fiscal activities. They should explain the main purpose of reserves. Now, there is a law that requires special purpose districts to report their fiscal information and reserves to the state controller’s office.


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