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!

Carrie Isaac