Georgetown City Council members adopted a $1.6 billion fiscal year 2026-27 budget at the Sept. 8 meeting.
To support the new budget, council members also adopted a tax rate of $0.363167 per $100 valuation.
What residents should know
Although the tax rate is higher than the current fiscal year rate of $0.353, officials anticipate no increase in the average property tax bill due to property values decreasing, according to city documents.
Georgetown residents can expect utility bill increases beginning Oct. 1:
Water rates: 4% base charge increase and 14% volumetric charge increase
Wastewater rates: 12% rate increase
Stormwater rates: increasing from $6.50 to $8 a month
Solid waste rates: 5% increase for residential customers
For the average residential customer using 10,000 gallons of water per month, the city anticipates a total monthly increase of about $14 for water and wastewater, $1.50 for stormwater, and $1.24 for solid waste.
Digging deeper
The adopted budget is $300 million more than the current budget of $1.3 billion. Some factors affecting the budget include slower growth in sales tax, marginal growth in property taxes and the cost of providing services to a growing population, according to city documents.
The budget emphasizes infrastructure improvements, with over half of the total budget—$903 million—allocated to capital projects.
Over $700 million of the capital budget is dedicated to water and wastewater infrastructure, focusing on the East Georgetown groundwater initiative and building two new wastewater treatment plants.
The budget adds 39.5 new full-time positions across the city. These include 11 public safety roles in police and fire.
In case you missed it
City staff presented the preliminary budget to City Council on June 23 to garner feedback. The revised budget was delivered Aug. 11, before the first reading of the budget and tax rate took place Aug. 25.
