Dripping Springs City Council unanimously approved a proposed property tax rate of $0.19 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2022-23 at a July 19 meeting. A public hearing and final ratification vote are still required to fully adopt the proposed tax rate.

If fully passed at $0.19, it would be the city’s third consecutive year at the same rate.

According to Dripping Springs Finance Director Shawn Cox, the council’s passage of the proposed $0.19 rate leaves the city in a good position for when the Hays County tax assessor-collector returns the city’s 2022 tax rate calculation worksheet.

“Based on how it was last year, I anticipate [the rate] might need to drop below $0.19, or $0.19 per $100 value, and what council approved as a proposal will allow us to do that should we need to, but we have no expectations of [the rate] going above $0.19,” Cox said.

If the assessor-collector returns the worksheet with a no-new-revenue tax rate calculation under the proposed $0.19, the rate can be adjusted down without a public vote.

There will also be no issue with the proposed 2022-23 budget, which is scheduled for a final vote on the same day as the tax rate, if the final rate is lower than $0.19, according to Cox.

“The budget has this taken into consideration, so even if we do have to adopt a lower rate, it shouldn’t negatively affect our budget,” Cox said during the July 19 meeting.

A public hearing to discuss both the proposed tax rate and budget is scheduled for Aug. 16, and the final votes to adopt both are scheduled for the Sept. 6 council meeting.