The Woodlands board sets proposed M&O tax rate at 0.1612 and schedules Sept. 4 public hearing

The Woodlands Township Board of Directors on Aug. 21 voted to set a proposed maintenance-and-operations (M&O) tax rate of 0.1612 per $100 of taxable value and scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 4, 2025 at 5:45 p.m. The M&O proposal passed on a 5–2 roll call after competing motions to hold the current rate and to adopt the no-new-revenue rate.

Monique Sharp, who led the staff presentation, told the board the vote to set a proposed rate triggers public-notice and hearing requirements and is not the final adopted rate. “The proposed tax rate is not the adopted tax rate,” Sharp said, explaining staff will calculate the split between debt-service and M&O and publish the notices required by law.

The board also proposed a debt-service tax rate of 0.0102 per $100 of taxable value; that motion was moved and seconded and carried without recorded opposition. Because the proposed M&O rate is above the calculated no-new-revenue rate, state notice and a public hearing were required; the board set that hearing for Sept. 4 and will take a separate vote to adopt the budget and the tax rate at that meeting.

Why it matters: staff warned that cuts needed to reach the no-new-revenue level would reduce reserves and affect the five-year plan, particularly with large law-enforcement cost increases built into the next several years. Sharp showed that moving the rate down in quarter-penny increments would reduce township revenue by roughly $750,000 per quarter-penny and that reaching the no-new-revenue rate would reduce revenues by about $3.3 million.

Board reaction split along priorities. Some directors pushed to reach the no-new-revenue rate if possible; others warned the board must maintain service levels and preserve credit-quality metrics such as the AA+ rating. The board directed staff to prepare notices and return with the formal adoption packet for the Sept. 4 meeting.