Collin County residents will see a higher property tax rate for fiscal year 2026-27.
The Collin County Commissioners Court voted to raise the property tax rate to $0.151414 per $100 in property valuation, a 1.4% increase from the rate of $0.149343 per $100 that has been in place since FY 2023-24.
Commissioners also approved a $619.6 million budget for FY 2026-27, a $20.4 million increase compared to the FY 2025-26 budget.
The commissioners approved the property tax rate and budget for FY 2026-27 at a Sept. 14 meeting. Both items passed 4-1 with County Judge Chris Hill in opposition.
What it means
Despite the higher tax rate, not every Collin County resident will end up paying more property taxes this year, Director of Budget Mónika Arris said.
While the median home value in Collin County has increased, the average home value has decreased, according to Arris’s presentation. Whether or not individual property tax bills increase will depend on the value of each property and how it has changed since last year, Arris said.
The discussion
Hill voted against the FY 2026-27 budget and tax rate because he opposed increasing property taxes for residents, he said.
“I’d like to see us not raise the tax rate,” Hill said, noting that Collin County officials haven’t raised the property tax rate since 1993.
Before the commissioners voted on the budget and tax rate, Hill made two failed motions.
The first motion would have asked each department to cut its budget by 2.76% to avoid raising the property tax rate.
Smaller departments would have seen budget reductions in the tens of thousands of dollars, while major departments like jail operations would have been asked to cut more than $1 million.
“If we ask them to do this, especially after we’ve already asked them to cut, cut, cut … How do we do that?” Commissioner Susan Fletcher said.
In his second motion, Hill proposed lowering the county’s employee compensation target from the 75th percentile of comparison counties down to the 50th percentile.
Fletcher pushed back on the idea of reducing raises for county staff.
“Our employees are the backbone of our county,” she said.
The FY 2026-27 compensation for elected officials, which also passed 4-1 with Hill in opposition, includes raises for Hill and the four county commissioners.
In similar news
Collin County residents could see additional tax hikes in coming years depending on the outcome of the county’s $817.5 million bond election this November.
Commissioners called a bond election for Nov. 3. Propositions on the ballot include:
Proposition A: $296.5 million for court and detention facility projects
Proposition B: $475 million for road improvement projects
Proposition C: $6 million for parks and open space projects
Proposition D: $40 million for elections and records storage facility
The bond does not show an explicit tax increase. Instead, residents could see a potential maximum debt service tax rate of 4.95 cents per $100 of property valuation in 2031, an 18% increase compared to the FY 2026-27 adopted debt service tax rate of 4.19 cents per $100.
If voters approve the bond, the potential maximum debt service rate would be flexible depending on population growth, officials said.
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 5 for the November election. Early voting runs Oct. 19-25 with Election Day taking place Nov. 3.
