Hidalgo County budget workshop: appraisal growth, staffing and capital requests outlined

Douglas Soto Jr., Hidalgo County budget officer, briefed commissioners on the fiscal 2026 budget calendar, recent certified appraised values from the appraisal district and department budget submissions.

Soto said the appraisal roll shows an approximate 9.8% increase in taxable appraised value for the coming year and estimated this could yield about $30 million in additional revenue for operations and debt service if the county captures the full taxable base. He noted a portion of the increase—his office estimated roughly 2–3 billion dollars of appraised value in the roll—represents newly taxed property and that new property can account for roughly 20–25% of annual growth when compared with reappraisals and valuation changes.

Calendar and legal posting: Soto went through the county’s budget calendar: appraisal certification was received; on August 1 the tax assessor will calculate benchmarks for the no‑new‑revenue tax rate and the voter‑approval…