Government
BY EMILY LINCKE & NICHAELA SHAHEEN
Montgomery County lowers property tax rate The Montgomery County Commissioners Court adopted a balanced fiscal year 2025-26 budget and set a property tax rate of $0.3770 per $100 valua- tion during a special meeting Sept. 5. The FY 2024-25 approved tax rate was $0.3790 per $100 of home valuation, making the FY 2025- 26 tax rate a 0.53% decrease. The details The adopted budget totals $508.1 million with allocations including law enforcement pay parity, additional staffing across departments, expanded IT and cybersecurity funding, and jail inmate med- ical and food services. The budget also includes $5.4 million for the county’s capital improvement plan, Budget Officer Amanda Carter said. A last-minute adjustment added $850,000 in expected revenue that had been excluded in earlier drafts. Most of the money was applied to
Driver’s license office returns to New Caney The driver’s license satellite office located at 22354 Justice Drive in New Caney reopened Sept. 2 after closing in December following the expiration of an agreement between Montgomery County Precinct 4 and the Texas Department of Public Safety. What’s happening? The office was previously staffed by the county and offered limited services as employees had limited access to DPS sys- tems, Precinct 4 Chief of Staff Josh Pascua said Aug. 28. Under the new agreement, the facility is staffed by DPS and offers a full range of services, including driver’s license renewals and noncommercial driver’s license testing. Pascua added that the new agreement will save taxpayer dollars since DPS is staffing the office.
Montgomery County tax impact Tax rate per $100 valuation FY 2024-25 $0.3790
-0.53%
$0.3770
FY 2025-26
Average home value: $335,928 Average monthly county tax bill: $106 Average annual county tax bill: $1,266
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
lower the tax rate, with about $74,757 added to bolster contingency reserves, bringing that line item to $150,376, Carter said. Diving in deeper The adopted tax rate of $0.3770 is slightly below the previously proposed $0.3779 rate, but still rep- resents a 2.09% increase over the no-new-revenue rate, as required by state law to be disclosed. The budget and tax rate were approved unanimously.
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