Williamson County Commissioners approve new tax rate

New tax rate for WilCo residents

Property taxes could be going up in Williamson County. The county commission approved a budget of over $7 million for the next fiscal year and set a new tax rate.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Property taxes could be going up in Williamson County.

The county commission approved a budget of over $7 million for the next fiscal year and set a new tax rate.

New WilCo budget

The backstory:

The Williamson County Commission approved a county budget of $702,428,992 for the fiscal year 2025-2026 this month. That budget comes with a new county tax rate of $0.413776 per $100 valuation, up 3.4% from the previous year. 

County Judge Steven Snell says the increase will help departments like transportation and law enforcement keep pace with the needs of the growing community. 

"We're the 12th largest county in Texas, one of the fastest growing in Texas," said Snell. 

Featured

article

New Georgetown city budget lowers property tax rate, but rising values may mean higher bills

The new budget for Georgetown lowers the city's property tax rate, but due to increasing property values, homeowners could still see an increase to their yearly bill, says the city.

He says that means the county needs more employees to continue providing a high level of service, especially as more people move into unincorporated parts of the county that aren't serviced by a city. 

The budget aims to address that need by adding an extra 45 positions, including four sheriff's deputies, three corrections officers, and three deputy constables. 

It also aims to enhance retention with 2% cost of living and 2% merit raises, as well as increases to salaries for law enforcement roles. Under the new budget, sheriff's deputies on average will receive a salary bump of 8% on average, and correction officers will receive a salary bump of 10% on average. 

"We want to maximize county safety, and that includes having all those positions filled and giving our police officers a good, livable wage," said Snell. 

What does this mean for residents?

Dig deeper:

But the county's increased cost of living extends to residents, too, and property tax bills for median valued homestead residences will now be $122 higher on average, according to county data. 

Snell says the decision to raise the county tax rate was not made lightly. 

"There is a lot of burden on our taxpayers for property taxes. We're very aware of that," said Snell. "They have to pay this tax bill, right, and they're struggling with a lot of things and the cost of inflation across the county. Then you add on to that, city taxes and school district taxes."

But Snell believes that in the long run, the budget will save taxpayers money as some funds will go toward paying for projects directly rather than through financing. The budget also allocates $20 million from the debt service funds to start paying down some debts early. 

"The thought process was, if we could raise taxes one cent, that would help us pay for capital projects with cash instead of financing them over many years, ultimately costing the taxpayers more money," said Snell. "The county's done that two years in a row. So as these projects roll off, we'll look to lower the possibility of lowering taxes during the next budget cycle."

What's next:

The approved budget also includes another $20 million to be spent on capital improvement projects. 

This week, commissioners allocated some of those funds to a new 9-1-1 training center as well as new equipment including EMS cardiac monitors and emergency radios. 

The commission will continue work allocating the remaining funds to additional capital improvement projects next week when they're expected to finalize the budget.