Hays County will have their final hearing on their proposed Tax Rate and 2024-25 FY Budget on Tuesday September 17th at 1pm at the Hays County Courthouse budget office!

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:

Another important point to note is that Hays County has a debt of $524,700,000! There are millions of dollars being paid on these bonds in interest alone without touching the principle.

Hays county will vote to adopt this proposed budget and tax rate Tuesday September 17th at 1pm at the Hays County Courthouse budget office, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1045, San Marcos, Texas 78666.

Did you know that your local taxing entities can adopt a tax rate that won't raise your property taxes, even if your property valuations have increased?

The No New Revenue Rate is the adoption of the tax rate that would produce the same revenue as the previous year, resulting in a lowered rate to offset the increased revenue caused by inflated home appraisals. In turn, this would produce a lower tax bill for Texans. As school districts, municipalities, and counties adopt their budgets, they will be considering the revenue rate that will need to be adopted to accommodate for the budget they adopt.

In the 88th session, the Texas Legislature passed the largest property tax relief bill in Texas history. This package secured $18 billion in relief in the form of increased homestead exemptions, a school maintenance and operations buy down, appraisal caps, and more. However, the relief packages the legislature passes become obsolete for some homeowners when local taxing entities adopt new revenue rates, which increase your taxes once again and nullify the cuts made by the legislature. Encourage our local governments to adopt a No New Revenue Rate when looking at the budgets for the next fiscal year. Click here to read more about No New Tax Revenue Rates.

I will continue to urge local taxing entities to combat rising property taxes, support transparency throughout their budgeting processes and to update you all on upcoming budget meetings.

Hays County voting to adopt budget