Schertz and Hays County Tax Rate & Budget Adoption Hearings
City of Schertz
The city of Schertz and Hays County are voting to adopt their 2025 FY tax rates on Tuesday, September 3rd. Here are a few observations on Schertz based on the Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Increase:
Tax Rate
FY 2023 (adopted): $0.4872 per $100/value
FY 2024 (proposed): $0.499 per $100/value
2.4% increase in the tax rate
No-new-revenue tax rate: $0.4805 per $100/value
Voter-approval tax rate: $0.499 per $100/value
Property Value
2023 average taxable value of homestead: $324,624
2024 average taxable value of homestead: $343,118
5.9% increase
Tax Bill (city taxes only)
2023 tax bill on average homestead: $1,578.39
2024 tax bill on average homestead: $1,712.16
8.5% increase
Tax Levy
2023 levy: $26,315,014
2024 levy: $28,168,683
7% increase
One thing to note about the data above is that the tax rate and property values are poised to simultaneously increase. That is a recipe for higher taxes. Ideally, those two factors should share an inverse relationship, meaning as one goes up, the other comes down. Preferably in such a way that tax bills don’t rise.
According to the city’s latest available Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), it has not done well to reduce tax rates over the last 10 years, especially in light of fast-rising values. From pg. 104 of the CAFR, beginning with the 2023-2022 FY and working back:
As you can see from the image above, the city’s overall tax rate has effectively stayed the same from 2014 (bottom value: $0.4999) to 2023 (top value: $0.4950). Meanwhile, taxable values have increased by 2.5 times over the same period. Bad news for taxpayers.
Schertz will have their public hearing on the budget and tax rate, and then vote to adopt both this coming Tuesday September 3rd at at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex, Bldg #4, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas.
Hays County
Now, Hays County runs their budget process differently than most. As it turns out, Hays County does not have a formal proposed budget, only sections that will be combined once they are adopted. My staff and I are finding it difficult to follow the budget process of many taxing entities. They should strive to be as transparent as possible. Unfortunately, Hays County’s budget process is proving to be cumbersome.
A few observations based on the Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Increase:
Tax Rate
2023 (adopted): $0.3075 per $100/value
2024 (proposed): $0.35 per $100/value
13.8% increase in the tax rate
No-new-revenue tax rate: $0.2788 per $100/value
Voter-approval tax rate: $0.3916 per $100/value
Property Value
2023 average taxable value of homestead: $347,844
2024 average taxable value of homestead: $370,306
6.4% increase
Tax Bill (county taxes only)
2023 tax bill on average homestead: $1,069
2024 tax bill on average homestead: $1,296
21.2% increase
Tax Levy
2023 levy: $123,301,304
2024 levy: $144,623,348
17.2% increase
The major thing to note here is the size of the tax increase expected to result for the avg. homeowner—+21.2%! That is quite an uptick.
Using the county’s most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, we can see that this aggressive property tax increase is part of a longer trend. On pg. 192, the county’s tax levy is noted to have grown from $57.7 million in 2014 to $120 million in 2023. That is a 108% increase over the period.
It’s worth noting that over the same period, population only increased from 185,025 in 2014 to 280,086 in 2023, or 51.6%. From pg. 197:
Hays County will have a public hearing on their proposed tax rate this coming Tuesday September 3rd at 11:00 a.m. at the Hays County Courthouse budget office, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1045, San Marcos, Texas 78666. They will vote to adopt their budget on Tuesday September 17th.
Attending these public hearings is critical to encouraging local taxing entities to keep our taxes from increasing. Tax cuts from the legislature become obsolete when these local municipalities increase their rates by the maximum amount possible. Please connect with your counties and cities, and push them to adopt a no new revenue rate for the 2025 Fiscal Year!