Conduct a public hearing regarding the City of Friendswood proposed tax rate for Fiscal Year 2026-2027.

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

Based on Texas Constitution Article VIII, Section 21 and Tax Code Chapter 26, Texas’ truth-in-taxation principles provide that a taxing unit, other than a water district or small taxing unit which are covered by special provisions, must publish special notice and hold a public hearing before adopting a tax rate that exceeds the lower of the voter-approval tax rate or the no-new-revenue tax rate; which could result in an increase of property taxes imposed by a taxing entity on properties taxed in both the current and preceding tax years. On August 3, 2026, the City Council took action to propose a tax rate of $0.559723 per $100 property valuation for 2026. The proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the no-new-revenue tax rate or voter-approval tax rate by 8.7 percent and would result in a tax revenue increase of approximately $2.6 million from properties taxed in, both, the current and preceding tax years. Also, on August 3, 2026, the City Council scheduled a public hearing on the proposed tax increase for September 14, 2026. As required by truth-in-taxation guidelines, the date, time and location of the meeting to adopt the tax rate will be announced at the public hearing. A quarter-page advertisement for the notice of public hearing on the tax increase was published in the Friendswood "Reporter News" on August 26, 2026. The notice explains the proposed change to the property tax rate and reflects the public hearing date. The notice is posted on the City’s website and PEG channel. City Council may decide to move forward with adopting this rate or proposing and adopting a rate lower than this without having to publish any additional notice of the 2026 tax year proposed property tax rate. The City of Friendswood fiscal year 2026-2027 budget was developed with a tax rate of $0.524843 per $100 property valuation, comprising a maintenance and operations rate of $0.406285 and interest and sinking (debt service) rate of $0.118558. The tax rate used to develop the budget ex