All told, 258 separate propositions worth over $36 billion will be sent to voters for approval—and possibly more since the Bond Review Board is continually updating their database. If it all passes, the total debt held by Texas cities, counties, school districts, and special districts will eclipse more than half a trillion – yes, with a T – dollars.
If you’re like most Texans, unfortunately, you probably didn’t know the elections were coming up or plan to vote. That fact is disappointing because bonds are one significant reason why our property taxes never go down.
But even if you did know about the elections and were planning to show up, you’d be forgiven for believing the misleading and often false propaganda spread by local governments to garner support for their bond.
For example, in Hays County, just south of Austin, the largest bond package comes from the school district, which is asking for just shy of $1 billion. This has a lot of people concerned about a spike in taxes, but district materials say not to worry about it—there’ll be no tax increase for anyone!
Under the law, the voter information document specific to the bond must provide an assessment of the bond’s estimated tax increase. You might be shocked to find out the voter information document claims there is $0 tax impact to taxpayers for borrowing a billion dollars.
How is that possible?
Well, it’s because of a loophole. The formula to determine the tax impact is based on a homestead with an appraised value of $100,000. In 2023, the Legislature increased the homestead exemption to $100,000. Thus, in effect, the calculation of a tax increase is based on a home with no taxable value, making it only appear as though there will be no impact on taxpayers.
Of course that’s not true. The median home value in Hays County is $380,000, which means the taxable value after the homestead exemption is $280,000, not zero. So there will be a tax increase, but the school district—and virtually every other local government—found a way to exploit the loophole and deceive voters.
State policymakers should address this loophole to ensure local governments can’t deceive taxpayers into thinking borrowing billions of dollars has no cost.
Brian Phillips
Chief Communications Officer
