PART 5:
Rollback Elections
No petition required. A school district is required to hold an automatic rollback election - without the petition process - to ratify a current year's tax rate, if the school board adopts a tax rate above the rollback rate. The election date cannot be earlier than 30 days or later than 90 days after the date the school board adopted the tax rate. Election Code Section 3.005 was amended to allow a school district to order an election 30 days before the election date. Previous law required a time lapse of 62 days before an election date. This change takes effect with the 2010 tax year.
More information about rollback election procedures may be obtained from the Election Division of the Texas Secretary of State's Office at (800) 252-8683 or visit its Web site at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/index.shtml#contact.
Tax Code Section 26.08 requires the ballot language; a sample ballot is on page 30. The ballot states the voter is voting for or against ratifying the adopted tax rate, rather than limiting the rate to the rollback rate.
Election results. If a simple majority of the votes cast in the election favor the adopted tax rate, then the adopted tax rate stands. If the voters disapprove the adopted rate, the school district's rollback rate would be the adopted tax rate.
Disaster. School districts are not required to ratify their tax rates when responding to a disaster. No election is called if the school district is spending increased revenue to respond to a disaster for the year following the year in which the disaster occurred. Disasters include tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or other similar events that affect the school district. The law excludes drought. For these purposes, a disaster exists only if the governor requests federal disaster assistance for the area