Catherine Tapscott, the city chief financial officer, told the Bryan City Council on Aug. 12 that certified appraisal rolls for tax year 2025 show an 11.1% increase in freeze-adjusted property values and that staff recommends keeping the property tax rate at 6.24 per $100 of assessed value. "Staff is recommending that we remain at the 6 2 4 property tax rate," Tapscott said.
Nut graf: The appraisal district certified taxable values that increased the city's freeze-adjusted roll from about $8.68 billion to about $9.60 billion (an increase of roughly $961 million). Tapscott said the recommended 6.24 tax rate would generate an estimated $44.7 million for the general fund, a roughly $4.4 million (10.8%) increase over the current levy.
Tapscott explained components of the change: roughly $269 million in new property additions, a substantial annexation (noted in the presentation as about $853 million of commercial value), and increases in existing property values. She also reported exemption growth of roughly $231 million. In the tax-rate calculations, the no-new-revenue rate and the voter-approval rate were presented; staff noted a small amount of unused increment when calculating the voter-approval rate.
Council members asked about reserve levels and rating-agency impacts. Tapscott said that if the city lowered the tax rate such that days-of-cash fell below policy levels, the rating agencies could view that negatively; she recommended maintaining a target above the city's 100-day policy to protect bond ratings and borrowing costs.
Staff outlined the next steps: the council will set a proposed tax rate at a future regular meeting, schedule a public hearing on the proposed rate, hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, and return for budget adoption and final tax-rate adoption in September. Tapscott and council members mentioned pending state legislation (identified in the meeting as Senate Bill SP9) as an additional uncertainty to monitor before making permanent changes.
Ending: Council did not adopt a tax rate at the Aug. 12 meeting; staff recommended keeping the current rate and scheduled public hearings and readings later in August and September.