Harris County ESD 11 commissioners propose tax rate decrease for FY 2022-23

Harris County Emergency Services District No. 11 commissioners approved a proposed a tax rate of $0.029336 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2022-23 during their Aug. 23 board meeting.

Commissioners also voted to set a public hearing for the proposed tax rate at their Sept. 27 meeting. Following the public hearing, commissioners will vote to formally adopt the rate.

The proposed tax rate marks a slight decrease from the FY 2021-22 rate of $0.032305.

According to John Howell—a senior vice president at The GMS Group, which provides financial counsel to the district—the tax rate will generate approximately $19.5 million in revenue. Howell noted ESD 11 officials had tried to produce a tax rate that would generate around $19.7 million of revenue, but he said the tax rate needed to generate that much revenue would have required voter approval in an upcoming election.

“The $19.5 [million] is about the maximum that we can generate without subjecting ourselves to an election,” Howell said. “An election would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and wouldn't be worth it.”

Howell said the tax rate will be levied against roughly $66.5 billion in taxable value this fiscal year, compared to roughly $57.7 billion last fiscal year. Due to the increase in taxable value, Howell said the rate would require property owners to pay slightly more in taxes than they paid in the previous year.

“You'd be asking the average homestead in your district to pay about $78.20 in taxes to the district, which is about $0.82 more than they paid last year,” he said.