Taxpayers in the Bowling Green Independent School District will pay 82.8 cents for every $100 of real and personal property after a unanimous vote from the district’s school board Monday.

The rate is unchanged from last year, when the board approved a 5.4-cent increase to help fund an overhaul of Bowling Green High School.

“I think they were adamant that they did not want to come back again the next year with a tax increase,” Superintendent Gary Fields said of the board’s decision. “We’re also very fortunate to live in a community that is a growing community.”

Jeff Herron, the district’s finance officer, said growth in property values will provide an estimated increase over the 2017-18 revenue of $489,749 for the district’s general fund and $119,128 for its building fund.

However, as property assessments go up, state funding goes down.

The district expects to lose $287,307 in state funding for its general fund because of the increased property assessments.

Fields said the rate the board approved was necessary to “make sure that we could meet the operational needs of this school year” and the BGHS project.

“We’re also trying to be as responsible as the public would expect us,” he said. “If we’re adding programs, then we’re also evaluating programs that maybe might be time to move on or try something different. So I think that’s a constant review as well.”

As an example, Fields said the district has reduced staffing levels through attrition. About 80 percent of the district’s budget is personnel, he said.

“We’ve looked at areas where we’ve been able to consolidate instructional assistant positions where we didn’t need as many of those this year,” he said.

Work also continues on the extensive renovations at BGHS.

The project will play out over several years, depending on available funding. The result will be a total transformation of the school’s facilities, including replacing the school’s natatorium with a courtyard, among many other changes.

Tim Geegan, executive vice president of Alliance Corp., gave an update on the project’s progress.

With utilities in the ground, workers are now ready to begin pouring concrete.

But the project hasn’t been without some snags.

Workers have found that maps of the campus pipe system are inaccurate, and Geegan said they’ve had to locate them. Once found, they’re documented with GPS, he said.

Due to that, the board approved $33,507.39 in increased costs through change orders for the project.

“Once we’re out of the ground, change orders should be minimal,” Geegan told the board.

He said the project has had about $75,000 in change orders so far.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.