Round Rock City Council has set a ceiling of 42.3 cents per $100 of taxable property value while it considers a proposed $684.1 million budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The Aug. 13 vote did not adopt the final tax rate. It established the highest rate the council can consider while completing the required notice and hearing process, and members can still approve a lower figure before final adoption scheduled for Sept. 10.
What the proposed rate could cost
At the maximum rate, the owner of a home with the city's median taxable value of $370,288 would pay approximately $131 per month in Round Rock property taxes. The city estimates that is about $8 a month more than the previous year, even though the median taxable value has fallen from $395,240.
The 42.3-cent ceiling is 3.8 cents higher than the no-new-revenue rate of 38.5 cents. The no-new-revenue calculation is designed to raise roughly the same amount from properties that appeared on the tax roll in both years; it is not a statement that every individual bill would remain unchanged.
Why the overall budget is falling
The proposed city budget is 13% below the $789.7 million adopted for fiscal 2026. Most of the reduction comes from the Community Investment Program, where proposed spending falls from $418.7 million to $297.9 million as the timing and construction stages of major projects change.
Day-to-day spending is moving in the opposite direction. The proposed General Fund is $192.5 million, up $3.8 million or about 2%. Public safety represents approximately 51% of that fund.
Several projects approved through the city's 2023 general-obligation bond program are due to move from construction into operation. They include Fire Stations 10 and 11, the second phase of the Public Safety Training Center, work at Old Settlers Park and expansion of the Multipurpose Complex. The budget proposes 52.5 additional full-time positions, including firefighters, police officers, parks staff and operational roles needed for new facilities.
How commercial property and sales tax affect the bill
Round Rock dedicates half a cent of its 2% local sales tax to property-tax reduction. The city estimates this lowers the rate by 12.7 cents and saves the median homeowner about $39 a month compared with the rate that would otherwise be needed.
Commercial property also provides a large share of revenue: businesses account for 8% of real-property parcels but 52% of city property-tax receipts. City tax is only one part of a resident's complete property-tax bill and represents about 22% of the average total, according to the council's figures.
Residents should therefore treat the 42.3-cent figure as a maximum under consideration, not the final adopted rate. Property-specific estimates are available through the city's tax calculator, while the City of Round Rock budget announcement contains the underlying figures and timetable.
