Port Arthur residents with an average-value home will pay about $11.13 more in school district property taxes next year with the newly approved tax rate of $1.35347 per $100 valuation.

The approved tax rate is 0.02 percent more than the current tax rate of $1.35314 per $100 valuation, or an increase of $0.00033.

“It’s higher because the value of your home is increasing,” Phyllis Geans, Assistant Superintendent and CFO for Port Arthur ISD, said.

Last year, the average market value of residences was $61,343. This year it is $62,194. Accordingly, the average taxable value of residences has risen from $37,196 to $38,009.

This means that taxes due on average residences has increased from $503.31 to $514.44, or an increase of $11.13.

The 2016 effective tax rate is $0.42400 per $100 valuation with the effective maintenance and operations (M&O) rate at $1.45727 per $100 valuation.

The effective tax rate, as defined by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts website, enables the public to evaluate the relationship between taxes for the prior year and for the current year, based on a tax rate that would produce the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both years.

Geans explained that the rollback tax rate is comprised of two separate components — the M&O rate and the debt service rate.

M&O covers features like salaries, utilities and daily operations for the school district. Debt service includes the interest and principal on bonds and other debt secured by property tax revenues.

The 2016 rollback tax rate is the same as the newly approved 2016 tax rate, $1.35347 per $100 valuation. The 2016 M&O values tax rate is $1.72407 per $100 valuation.