Southlake City Council approved the fiscal year 2025-26 budget and tax rate Sept. 16.

The new property tax rate, which decreased to $0.295 per $100 valuation from the 2024-25 fiscal year rate of $0.305 per $100 valuation, represents the eighth consecutive reduction and the lowest rate since the mid-1980s, according to city documents.What happened

Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson provided a proposal to adopt the new property tax rate, which represents a decrease of $0.01 from the 2024-25 fiscal year rate, during the Aug. 19 City Council meeting.

Property taxes, also known as ad valorem taxes, make up 47.4% of the city’s revenue, according to city documents. While giving the first reading of the budget during the council’s regular Sept. 2 meeting, Jackson said the decreased property tax rate would equate to just under $1.4 million in revenue reduction.

“This is a deliberate choice reflecting our ongoing commitment to provide tax relief whenever possible while continuing to fund essential services,” Jackson said.

The budget includes an extension of the 20% homestead exemption into FY 2025-26, which Jackson said represents a $223,000 taxable value reduction on the average Southlake home. Other exemptions include a senior tax freeze and a $75,000 exemption for disabled persons and those residents aged 65 and older.What else?

The average home value in Southlake is $1.1 million. For FY 2025-26, a residential property owner can expect to pay approximately $2,702 in property taxes to the city on a property of this value. Jackson said this amount constitutes roughly 14% of the total property tax bill for residential owners.

According to city documents, the breakdown of the total tax bill includes:

• City of Southlake: 14%
• Tarrant County Hospital District: 11%
• Tarrant County College: 7%
• Tarrant County: 11%
• Carroll ISD: 57%

Jackson said that as part of the newly adopted budget, which includes planned operating expenses of $137.7 million, city staff will use $17.1 million in cash from the budget along with certificates of obligation to support capital improvement projects.

“This approach allows us to keep up with infrastructure needs without overburdening future taxpayers,” Jackson said.She added 100% of the city’s outstanding property tax debt will be paid off in under 10 years. The city’s debt level represents 0.23% of the assessed value, which is below the city’s ceiling of 2%.

Quote of note

Mayor Shawn McCaskill praised city staff in putting together a budget that allowed another year of property tax relief for residents.

“[Southlake has had] 15 years in a row of property tax relief,” McCaskill said. “There’s not a lot of cities in Texas that can say that.”

He added the new tax rate is the lowest it has been in 40 years.