What residents should know
The newly approved tax rate is the highest rate commissioners can adopt without calling for an election. It is a 3.4% increase over FY 2024-25’s rate.
Using the new tax rate, a resident’s estimated county property tax bill for the upcoming fiscal year comes out to $1,556, based on the median property value of $358,542, according to county documents.
This is an increase of approximately $122 per year from FY 2024-25.
What happened
The final budget includes two changes from the last budget workshop.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved removing money allocated for a county vehicle that was already delivered this year, coming out to around $87,000.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey also proposed adding $17.9 million to the general fund for the Capital Improvement Plan and the Long-Range Transportation Plan. Because the adopted tax rate would raise more funds than needed for the originally proposed budget, this amount is the difference.
The amount is in addition the previously allocated $20 million for the CIP, and $17 million for the LRTP. The addition passed 4-1, with Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long opposed.
“The theory behind [the additional funding] is paying for it now with cash versus financing over the future, costing the taxpayers even more money,” County Judge Steven Snell said.
The breakdown
Williamson County’s budget can be divided into three categories:
- The general fund at $401.2 million
- The road and bridge fund at $78.5 million
- The debt service fund at $222.7 million
The FY 2025-26 budget is about $67 million more than the previous year’s budget.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles said the cost of materials is going up, which contributes to the additional funding needed in the budget.
“We're talking about deputies and construction material,” Boles said. “It’s core services.”
In case you missed it
At budget workshops Aug. 12 and Aug. 19, commissioners made additions to the budget, bringing the proposed $671.1 million budget to $684.6 million.
Those additions were focused on new staff and compensation for county employees, including cost-of-living adjustments, as well as road improvements and future planning for water.
