Both Williamson County commissioners and Georgetown City Council approved property tax rates for fiscal year 2015-16 on Sept. 8. Residents could likely see an increase on their property tax bills for both entities.

 Commissioners Court approved a tax rate of $0.481529 per $100 valuation, which is a half cent decrease from the FY 2014-15 rate. County Judge Dan Gattis said the court decided to act conservatively by lowering the tax rate slightly and allocating millions toward reducing the county’s debt after weeks of discussion.

“We could lower that tax rate more than that, but we’ve elected to take $10 million out of the funds to pay off debt,” he said. “We don’t hide behind that fact. We owe a lot of money in this county, and we want to start trying to pay that debt off.”

City Council unanimously approved a $287.7 million budget, which is 23.3 percent higher than the 2014-15 fiscal year budget, said Council member Rachael Jonrowe during the Sept. 8 meeting. The council also approved the property tax rate of $0.434 cents per $100 valuation.

The council approved the same tax rate as the previous year, though the amount is higher than the effective rate of $0.41715 per $100 valuation, she said.The effective rate is the rate that would generate the same amount of money as the previous fiscal year.