Taxes and the tax rate explained
This year we will drop the tax rate $0.0712 from 61.32 cents to 54.2 cents per $100 valuation and lowered overall taxes on existing properties by a little over $145,000. I know in years past folks in Milam County have heard that the County tax rate is going down and they still see a rise in their property taxes. There are several reasons for that, so I thought I would spend some column inches this week taking a deeper dive into your property taxes and how that tax money is broken down.
First off, let’s look at how property taxes are broken down based on living in one of the five cities in Milam County. If you live in one of our five Milam County cities then your overall property taxes are broken down between the county, the city, the school district, and any another special district such as an ESD or a Hospital District. Each city is a little different, but on average, property taxes in the city limits can be broken up as follows: 47 percent for School District Taxes, 25 percent for County Taxes, 23 percent for City Taxes, 5 percent for Other Taxes (Hospital, ESD, etc.).
In the unincorporated parts of the county there is a bit of a difference. There are no city taxes, so while more of the emphasis is placed on the ISD Taxes; overall, the tax rates and the property taxes tend to be a bit lower in the unincorporated areas. In Milam County, the normal breakdown is as follows: 62 percent for the School District Taxes, 33 percent for the County Taxes, and 5 percent for Other Taxes (Hospital, ESD, Water Districts, etc.).
While these percentages are a general breakdown for those living in the Milam County cities as opposed to those living in the unincorporated areas, the question then is how do the different areas compare around the county? If you live in one of the five cities, the breakdown is fairly well set as reflected here from the lowest tax rate to the highest: 1. Buckholts ($1.709), 2. Milano ($1.827), 3. Cameron ($2.163), 4. Thorndale ($2.385), 5. Rockdale ($2.605).
In the unincorporated areas of Milam County there are ten school districts that make up the majority of the county and these numbers can change quite a bit as there are no city taxes in the mix. As currently proposed by the taxable entities in the county, the local numbers appear to be as follows based on the School Districts in which you live. From lowest to highest overall tax rate, here is how they rank: 1. Buckholts ($1.373), 2. Gause ($1.439), 3. Lexington ($1.512), 4. Milano ($1.610), 5. Cameron ($1.653), 6. Rosebud-Lott ($1.711), 7. Rogers $1.716), 8. Rockdale ($1.787), 9. Bartlett ($1.794), and 10. Thorndale ($1.890).
NOTE: these rankings are estimated based on those tax rates as reflected in the proposed budgets currently posted by these entities.
Hopefully this provides a little more depth into how your taxes are broken down. While there might be some minor differences depending on if you are in the Rockdale Hospital District and/or which watershed district you might be in, these figures are pretty consistent with what most Milam County Taxpayers will see in the coming year. There are more details that can change these estimated tax rates, but for the most part these numbers are a pretty good barometer of how things pan out around the county. If you’d like more information, we will be continuing the Budget Town Hall Meetings through next Monday as follows (all meetings start at 6:30 p.m.): Wednesday, August 21 – Thorndale, Chamber of Commerce; Thursday, August 22 – Milano, Community Center; and Monday, August 26 – Rockdale, Kay Theater.