Hays County Commissioners Set Public Hearing For Proposed FY 2018 Budget And Tax Rate

The County’s 2018 fiscal year begins October 1, 2017.

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – The Hays County Commissioners Court Tuesday proposed a tax rate of 0.4450 per $100 of assessed valuation for fiscal year 2018, down from 0.4600 in current fiscal year 2017.

The proposed rate is lower than any tax rate adopted by the County in over 20 years. The tax rate applies only to Hays County government; other taxing entities within the county such as cities, school districts, and special districts set their own tax rates.

The Commissioners Court also proposed a County government budget for FY18 of $357,459,321. The FY17 budget is $179,348,164. The majority of the increase is attributable to capital project expenses related to the voter-approved public safety and road bonds. The County’s 2018 fiscal year begins October 1, 2017.

Public hearings on the proposed tax rate are set for September 5 at 1 p.m. and September 12 at 1 p.m., and a public hearing to adopt the proposed County budget is set for September 19 at 1 p.m.

All hearings will be held at the Hays County Commissioners Courtroom, 111 E. San Antonio St., San Marcos and the public is encouraged to attend. The hearings will be livestreamed and archived at www.co.hays.tx.us.

Because the proposed tax rate exceeds the effective tax rate, state law requires two public hearings be held by the Commissioners Court before the proposed rate is adopted, which would also be required if the proposed rate exceeds the rollback rate. The FY18 proposed tax rate is 0.4450 per $100. The effective tax rate is 0.4342 per $100 and the rollback tax rate is 0.4808 per $100.

The effective tax rate is the total tax rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue for Hays County from the same properties in both the 2016 and 2017 tax years.

The rollback tax rate is the highest tax rate that Hays County may adopt before voters are entitled to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate.

Your specific taxes owed under any of the above rates can be calculated using this formula:

Property tax amount = (rate) x (taxable value of your property) divided by 100.

For detailed information about the complexities of tax rate calculations required by law, visit www.co.hays.tx.us and choose the Truth in Taxation icon.

If you have additional questions about your personal tax situation, contact Luanne Caraway, Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector Luanne Caraway at luanne@co.hays.tx.us, 512-393-5545 or from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos, TX  78666.

County documents pertaining to the current and proposed budgets and tax rates are available at www.co.hays.tx.us by choosing the Financial Transparency icon.