For the first time in 33 years, Collin County homeowners will pay a higher property tax rate.
The Collin County Commissioners Court voted to increase the rate from $0.149 per $100 of assessed value to $0.151 in the fiscal 2027 budget.
The county is home to four of the nation’s five fastest-growing cities. Collin County’s spending grew slower than population and inflation growth in the last decade, according to the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The assessed value of the median home in the county increased compared to last year, and under the new tax rate, those residents would pay around $62.88 more in county property taxes compared to last year.
However, it’s possible that some residents could see a minor decrease in their tax bill. Mónika Arris, director of budget and finance for the county, said the tax rate hike will have different impacts on residents’ bills, because the assessed value of a property does not change uniformly.
“This varies on the value of your home … the area you’re living in, what happened in your particular area,” Arris said.
County Judge Chris Hill was the only member of the five-person Commissioners Court who voted against increasing the tax rate. He proposed a motion to ask county departments to cut their spending to avoid raising the tax rate.
Hill honed in on employee raises. He said that over the last 11 years, county employees each got cumulative raises doubling their pay and proposed asking departments to keep salaries flat this year, to keep the tax rate steady.
Commissioner Susan Fletcher, who represents parts of Frisco, Prosper and Celina, was skeptical about keeping salaries flat as a long-term solution. She said that the county struggles to fill certain positions because salaries are not competitive.
“We have literal department heads and elected officials coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got … [position] that I can’t fill because of the salary issue,’ ” Fletcher said.
In general, Fletcher said she was against keeping the tax rate flat while some county services were already “historically underfunded” as the population grows.
“Our citizens are our customers, and it is up to us to make sure that we provide the services … so they’re not waiting for three hours in the tax office,” Fletcher said.