Grayson County adopts 2027 budget, holds tax rate steady as values rise

Grayson County commissioners adopted a budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2027, on Aug. 25 and set the property tax rate that pays for it, keeping the rate at the figure the county has used since 2023. The county's official tax notice estimates that the bill on an average residence homestead will still rise, by about $42 over the year, or close to three and a half dollars a month, because average taxable value went up.

All five members of the Commissioners Court are recorded voting in favor, according to the adopted budget. The total county rate stays at roughly 30.5 cents per $100 of valuation, the fifth budget in a row at that number after commissioners brought it down from about 34 cents in fiscal 2022, the budget shows.

The budget states that it raises more property tax money than the one before it: about $3.5 million more, a 5.26% increase, with roughly four-fifths of that coming from property newly added to the tax roll. A year earlier, at the same rate, the county's adopted budget put its increase at 1.68%.

The total rate divides in two. Maintenance and operations pays for the county's day-to-day work. Interest and sinking covers debt. The operations share came down slightly this year and the debt share rose by about the same amount, leaving the total flat, according to the budget, which lists just under $30 million in total debt obligations as of adoption.

The adopted rate sits below the county's no-new-revenue rate and well below its voter-approval rate, the tax notice states. The Texas Comptroller defines the first as the rate that would collect the same amount from the same properties as the prior year, and the second as the point above which a taxing unit generally needs voter approval to go higher.

The budget also spends more than it takes in. Across all funds, Grayson projects expenditures above revenues and a combined fund balance falling by roughly $22 million during the year. The general fund carries a shortfall of about $3.3 million before that balance is applied.

Closer to home, Cooke County's proposed budget for the same fiscal year would raise total property taxes about 15% over the prior year's budget, according to the proposal the county posted, a steeper jump than Grayson's. Fannin County's proposed budget lands near Grayson's, at about 5.65%. Denton County lowered its rate slightly in its current adopted budget, and Collin County posted notice that its adopted rate worked out to an increase of one hundredth of a percent.

Local property tax databases are updated through August and September while officials propose and adopt the rates that set this fall's bills, the state's property tax transparency site says.