Brazos County commission proposes a property tax rate increase of one third of one cent

This podcast contains comments from the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.This podcast also corrects the amount of the increase in the property tax rate proposed by Brazos County commissioners associated with their fiscal year 2026 budget.Brazos County commissioners propose a property tax rate increase of one third of one cent.Commissioners cited two factors before the unanimous vote at Tuesday's (August 26) meeting.One was making up for lost valuation by property owners making successful appeals of valuations set by the Brazos Central Appraisal District.Commissioners also blamed more restrictions from state lawmakers.The proposal calls for the Brazos County property tax rate going from .419700 to .423059.A public hearing was scheduled for September 9th at 8:30 a.m.Click HERE to be directed to the Brazos County website with more information about the proposed tax rate and the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.News release from Brazos County:Brazos County commissioners proposed a new tax rate today for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. While the No New Revenue rate was preferable among taxpayers and commissioners, recent changes in the Texas legislature have left counties and municipalities across the state working to salvage their budgets and causing Brazos County commissioners to propose the Voter Approval Rate of .423059 per $100 valuation as the ceiling for future discussion.Senate Bill 10 was proposed to reduce the amount of increase to property tax revenue by cities and counties from 3.5% to 2.5%. However, the House yesterday proposed setting that limit at 1%, with an exception for public safety costs. In addition to the news from the legislature, commissioners also must consider current litigation between taxpayers and the Brazos Central Appraisal District.“After the current 2024 tax rate was set, $128-million came off the appraised values,” said First Assistant County Auditor Marci Turner. “As of right now, an additional $1.4-billion of appraised property value for prior years is in litigation. We know not all of that will be removed, but we estimate an eight-percent loss, resulting in an additional $112-million coming off the current appraised values.”As the tax rate is set to cover the proposed budget, losing that much each year presents a challenge. Throughout the budget process, County departments asked for items of necessity to continue providing excellent service to residents of Brazos County, making this a no-frills budget.Acting County Judge Kyle Kacal said, “Considering the current litigation with the Brazos Central Appraisal District and the potential property tax rate cap coming from the state legislature, proposing the Voter Approval Rate is the only fiscally responsible action I could vote for to be a good steward of Brazos County tax dollars.The No New Revenue rate, while appealing in the moment, would drain the County’s unbudgeted and uncommitted General Fund balance within two to three years and would force a tax hike in the near future just to keep the County’s services at current levels.”On September 9, 2025, Brazos County commissioners will hold public hearings at 8:30am to discuss the proposed budget and 9:15am to discuss the proposed tax rate. The budget and tax rate will be adopted the same day during the regular commissioners court meeting at 10:00am.