Reporting on Texas property taxes -- appraisals and protests, school and local tax rates, exemptions, bond elections, and the rewrite of the school funding formulas.
Three of Texas' largest cities raised their property tax rates in the past two weeks, and the homeowners living in them will see different tax bill changes—$18 a year on a $200,000 home in Amarillo, $35 increase on the average San Antonio home, and Fort Worth's mayor says most of her city's homeowners may still see a lower bill.
Amarillo told its residents in August that the coming city budget would raise $1,596,402 more in property taxes than last year's, an increase of 1.94 percent.
Texas Comptroller Don Huffines released updated estimates of statewide taxable property values for tax years 2026 through 2028 on Sept. 30, according to a news release from the Comptroller of Public Accounts.
The Texas House Committee on Ways and Means meets at 10 a.m. Sept. 15 to take testimony on how local governments spend and borrow, and on whether the Legislature should cap the growth of both.
Corpus Christi's city council set its property tax rate on Sept. 8 at $0.599774 per $100 of value — the identical rate it charged last year, to the sixth decimal place.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is distributing $1.3 billion in sales tax allocations to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts this month, 7.6% more than the agency sent to local governments in September 2025, according to a Sept. 10 news release.
Fort Bend County commissioners walked into their chambers on Sept. 10 to adopt a property tax rate of 41.2 cents per $100 of value, the rate printed on their own agenda.
Fort Worth raised its property tax rate by 3.2 cents this year.
Harris County commissioners voted Sept. 8 to advance a property tax rate for the coming year that sits at the exact ceiling state law allows them to set without holding an election, and the county’s own notice says the owner of a median-valued home would pay $86 more because of it.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai told commissioners on Sept. 1 what holding the property tax rate flat will cost, and he said it out loud for the first time.
Texas Comptroller Don Huffines called for urgent property tax reform during remarks at the Annual Legal Seminar on Ad Valorem Taxation in San Antonio, telling the audience that rising property tax bills are squeezing Texas families.
The state's annual audit of local appraisal districts concluded that Texas school property is worth about $47 billion more than county appraisers said.
The average Fort Worth home lost $13,616 in taxable value this year and the city has proposed raising its property tax rate by 3.2 cents.
Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Fort Worth to promote his property tax reform legislative proposal, holding up Tarrant County as a model for local governments across Texas after the county adopted a resolution endorsing his agenda.