What it costs Leander to appraise and collect its property tax (DRAFT – not published)
In short
The 30-second version
- Who does the work. The Williamson and Travis Central Appraisal Districts set values. The county tax offices collect for the city.2
- What it costs. The city’s budget line for appraisal and tax collection was $398,421 in the general fund in fiscal 2025. The utility fund spent another $3,574.1
- Compared with the tax. The city’s property tax revenue was $68,437,006 in fiscal 2025. So collecting it cost about 0.59%.23
The numbers
| Fiscal year | General fund line | Utility fund line | Property tax revenue | Cost per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 (actual) | $269,386 | $0 | not compared | — |
| 2024 (actual) | $362,020 | $18,266 | $60,910,860 | about 62¢ |
| 2025 (actual) | $398,421 | $3,574 | $68,437,006 | about 59¢ |
| 2026 (adopted) | $386,209 | $0 | — | — |
| 2027 (adopted) | $413,243 | $0 | — | — |
The cost went up about 10% from 2024 to 2025 in the general fund. Tax revenue grew faster, so the cost per $100 went down.123
What the law says
- Appraisal districts. Each taxing unit pays part of its appraisal district’s budget. Its share equals its share of all property taxes imposed in that district (Tax Code §6.06(d)).4 So as Leander’s tax grows, its share of the bill can grow too, even if the district’s budget does not.
- Collection. A city can contract with another taxing unit, such as the county, or with an appraisal district to assess or collect its taxes (Tax Code §6.24).4
The other side
- The city does not set this price alone. The appraisal district boards adopt their budgets. Taxing units can block a budget only if a majority of them object in writing within 30 days (§6.06(b)).4
- One budget line, two jobs. The budget does not split appraisal fees from collection fees, or Williamson from Travis. We cannot say which part grew.1
- Different years. The budget line is a fiscal-year cost. The tax revenue is the audit’s fiscal-year total. They line up only roughly.12
- Small, but real. About $400,000 is under 1% of the tax.3 We have no study of what doing the work in-house would cost.
Questions to ask
- How does the city’s collection cost split between the appraisal districts and the tax offices?
- How does the city compare its collection cost with nearby cities?
Changes to this page
- Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
- Nov. 2, 2026: We re-checked the math. We cut a guess about in-house costs.
What you can do
- Look at the Williamson Central Appraisal District’s budget each summer. It must hold a public hearing before it adopts one (§6.06(b)).4
- Open question: how the $413,243 for 2027 splits between appraisal and collection. The budget does not say.
What we still don’t know
- How the cost splits between the two appraisal districts and the two tax offices.
- How Leander’s cost per $100 compares with nearby cities.
Footnotes
-
City of Leander FY2027 adopted budget (saved copy), https://www.leandertx.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/397. General Fund 01-53 Non-Departmental, account 5680 “Appraisal & Tax Collection”: FY2023 actual $269,386; FY2024 actual $362,020; FY2025 actual $398,421; FY2026 adopted $386,209; FY2027 adopted $413,243. Utility Fund 20-04, same account: FY2023 $0; FY2024 $18,266; FY2025 $3,574; FY2026–27 $0. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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City of Leander audited financial reports. FY2025: government-wide property taxes $68,437,006 (FY2024 $60,910,860); note on property taxes (Williamson and Travis Central Appraisal Districts set values). https://emma.msrb.org/P11938164.pdf. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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Our math. FY2025: ($398,421 + $3,574) ÷ $68,437,006 = 0.587%. FY2024: ($362,020 + $18,266) ÷ $60,910,860 = 0.624%. General fund change $362,020 → $398,421 = +10.1%. Property tax revenue includes the city’s TIRZ share. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Texas Tax Code §6.06 (appraisal district budget and financing), https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_6.06, read 2026-11-01; §6.24 (contracts for assessment and collection), https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_6.24. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4