The Flat Rate Illusion: Frisco Approves Bloated Budget and Stealth Utility Rate Hikes
On September 15, 2026, the Frisco City Council adopted a $330.5 million budget that keeps the property tax rate nominally flat but relies on rising valuations and double-digit utility hikes to squeeze taxpayers.
You work hard to pay your mortgage, manage your monthly utility bills, and keep food on the table, only to have your local government quietly adjust the dials behind your back. You are told your property tax rate is staying flat, so you expect your bills to follow suit. But then the envelope arrives, and you find out you are paying more for water, more for sewer, and more for stormwater, all while your actual property tax bill climbs anyway. This is the reality of modern municipal management: a shell game of flat rates and soaring fees.
On September 15, 2026, the Frisco City Council officially approved its FY 2026-27 operating budget of $330.5 million. While municipal leaders boasted about keeping the nominal property tax rate flat, skyrocketing home valuations mean the average homeowner will still see their property tax bill climb by $8 per month. To make matters worse, the council approved a series of aggressive, double-digit utility rate hikes. Residential water rates will jump by 9 percent, sewer rates by 5 percent, and stormwater fees by 10 percent, hitting local households with an additional $10.72 monthly charge.
These compounding hikes are a classic example of how local governments use stealth fees to bypass political accountability. By keeping the nominal tax rate unchanged, politicians can claim they did not raise taxes, while simultaneously extracting millions of dollars in new revenue through municipal utility monopolies. For Frisco residents, these forced rate increases represent an unavoidable financial toll, as they cannot simply choose another water provider or opt out of stormwater fees. The council's action demonstrates a clear preference for growing the size of government over defending the financial liberty of its constituents.
This reliance on municipal utility monopolies and stealth fee increases to fund expanding local budgets is a growing concern for free-market advocates. The Reason Foundation has long argued that local governments frequently use regulatory and monopolistic structures to bypass traditional voter oversight and extract revenues that would otherwise face stiff political resistance. When cities use public utility fees to subsidize broader municipal operations, they distort market pricing and impose regressive burdens on low and middle-income families, highlighting the urgent need for structural limits on municipal fee-setting authority.