City Council proposes new ad valorem tax rate

The Dripping Springs City Council voted to set the proposed ad valorem tax rate for the 2023—2024 fiscal year, adopting a proposed rate of $0.2098 per $100 valuation.

The vote was passed at the city council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15. The proposed tax rate, if approved as the final rate, would be a significant increase from the previous year’s $0.1778 per $100 valuation. According to the city council, the proposed rate was set higher than what the council expects to adopt later this year, since it is a smoother legal process to lower the proposed rate than to raise it and have to hold another public hearing.

In FY 2023, the city of Dripping Springs brought in $2,559,204.88 from its ad valorem tax. In FY 2024, that amount is expected to increase to 3,287,595.03, according to city documents. This projection was based on the voter-approval tax rate of $0.1718 per $100 valuation.

“This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by $728,390.15, which is 28.46%,” the city explained in its Proposed Municipal Budget packet. “Of that amount, $445,377.12 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.”

The highest rate the city can adopt without an election this year is $0.1842 per $100 valuation, which is equal to the sum of the city’s no-newrevenue maintenance and operations rate that will raise $500,000 and the current debt rate for the city. Both the voterapproval rate and this rate, referred to as the “de minimus” rate, are determined by the Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector.

The ad valorem tax rate is applied to all taxable property, real, personal and mixed, situated within the city limits. Collected taxes go to fund the city’s maintenance and operations budget.

A public hearing on the tax rate is scheduled for Sept. 5.