The Round Rock City Council took a significant step towards approving a new budget and property tax rate at the end of August. While there is still one hurdle left to clear, it looks like a new tax rate has been decided.
The Round Rock City Property Tax Vote
The Round Rock city proposed a new property tax rate, and the first reading passed on August 26. The new rate that was proposed is $0.3907 for $100 of value. Put another way, for every $100,000 of property value, the tax liability will be $390.70.
Before the new rate can be formalized, it has to go up for a second reading and vote. That is planned to take place on September 9. If it passes the second vote, the new tax rate and budget will be fully approved.
How Tax Rates Are Changing
The new rate is less than the 2020-2021 ordinance, which was $0.439 per $100. Despite that, it is higher than the current no-new-revenue rate, which sits at $0.387441. That’s a change of roughly 10 percent from last year’s rate and still 2.5 percent above the no-new-revenue rate.
According to the new budget proposal, this new tax rate was calculated to generate the same revenue as last year. Since Round Rock city property values have gone up over the last year, the new tax rate can go down without reducing that total revenue.
Considering that property taxes pull in almost 20 percent of Round Rock’s general fund, it’s important that revenues stay predictable. The proposed general fund budget for the next year is $133 million. This new tax rate is projected to provide $25 million of the revenue that will go into that fund.