College Station city council sets a proposed property tax rate for the fiscal year 2026 budget

THis podcast contains comments from the August 18, 2025 College Station city council meeting.The College Station city council will take public comments August 28th about setting the proposed property tax rate for the 2026 fiscal year budget at the highest level without requiring a public vote.The council can lower the rate but can not increase it.What received council consensus at their August 14th meeting is slightly less than last year, but two and a half cents higher than city staff's original recommendation.During a special meeting of the council on August 12th, members were told Tuesday tgat the city's original property valuation had dropped by more than one BILLION dollars due to successful appeals.On the 14th, fiscal services director Mary Ellen Leonard said there is still a significant amount of pending appeals to be finalized. That could further reduce College Station's valuation by another $1.8 to $2.2 billion dollars.Leonard also told the council the city wide valuation number will be lowered another $200 million dollars due to a recently discovered state law that exempts the first $125,000 dollars of personal property.Click HERE to read presentation materials from the August 14, 2025 College Station city council meeting.Click HERE to be directed to a city of College Station video blog with more information about the proposed fiscal year 2026 tax rate.