Bandera staff outlines preliminary tax-rate options and timeline at public hearing

City of Bandera staff presented preliminary calculations for the property tax rate for fiscal year 2024–25 and explained the public-notice schedule during a public hearing on Aug. 13.

City staff member Stan said the city’s current combined tax rate is 47 cents per $100 of assessed value and walked the council and public through a worksheet showing a recommended preliminary rate of 47 cents. He said the worksheet also produces a “no-new-revenue” rate (about 44 cents) and the state’s voter-approval rate (about 46.17 cents), and that the de minimis rate in the worksheet is substantially higher. Stan said the calculations used the latest preliminary taxable value and collection-rate assumptions from the county appraisal process.

The worksheet staff used reflected a preliminary taxable value of roughly $168,000,000, up from the earlier estimate of about $139,000,000, and staff said part of that change came from higher appraisals and some from new construction. Stan said that roughly 95 properties remained under protest; staff is using an assumption that taxable value after protests could be about $40,000,000 lower than the preliminary total. He said the city has historically assumed a collections rate near 98–99 percent but that the proposed budget had used a more conservative approach.

Stan explained legal thresholds the worksheet shows: the “no-new-revenue” rate, the voter-approval rate (which triggers the right of voters to petition for an election if the city adopts a rate higher than that figure), and the de minimis rate. He clarified that the state statute allows citizens to petition for an election when the adopted rate exceeds the voter-approval amount, but that such a petition does not automatically trigger a mandatory election unless statutorily required. No member of the council moved to adopt any tax rate during the hearing.

Staff told the public that if the council sets a preliminary tax rate at this meeting, that rate will be published in the newspaper as required and that a separate public hearing and possible adoption of the tax rate are scheduled for the City Council meeting on Aug. 27. Stan emphasized that the council was not adopting the budget at the Aug. 13 public hearing; the hearing was an opportunity to receive public comment and explain the numbers before the formal budget and tax-rate actions later in the month.

The presentation prompted clarifying questions from council and members of the public about the appraisal protests, the components of taxable-value change, and which numbers are preliminary versus final. No formal direction to staff or vote on a tax rate was recorded in the hearing.