League City homeowners saw their city property tax rate drop for the 12th straight year after City Council unanimously adopted a $333 million budget and a no-new-revenue rate of $0.356505 per $100 valuation at its Tuesday, Sept. 8 meeting.

The rate fell 1.94% from the prior year. But the median homestead taxable value rose from $362,634 to $375,000, according to city budget documents. That pushed the estimated tax on the median home up $18.54, or 1.41%, to $1,336.89.

A falling rate does not always mean a falling bill.

For a $300,000 homestead with the 20% homestead exemption, the city tax bill has dropped from $1,433 in 2015 to $856 in 2027, according to the city's official Facebook page.

On the school side, a statewide study Community Impact first reported found that the average Texas homeowner's school district tax bill fell from $1,037 in 2024 to $896 in 2025, a drop of about $140, or 13.6%. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, presented the findings at a Sept. 1 Senate Local Government Committee hearing. His office filed public information requests with appraisal districts and tax assessor-collectors in all 254 Texas counties to compile the data.

About 39% of the state's 6.1 million homeowners paid nothing in school property taxes in 2025, Bettencourt's data showed. Seniors and homeowners with disabilities saw average school tax bills fall from $565 to $380.

"It's important to know that these homesteads will never go back above zero for the [homeowner's] lifetime," Bettencourt said at the hearing.

No Galveston County or League City-specific breakdown of the 13.6% school tax drop was available in the study's public presentation. The figure is a statewide average.

Clear Creek ISD, the district serving most of League City, held its tax rate flat at $0.969 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2025-26. The district is projecting a $22.8 million shortfall for fiscal year 2026-27, driven largely by a $16 million drop in state and local funding tied to enrollment losses, as Community Impact reported Aug. 18. CCISD Chief Financial Officer Alice Benzaia warned at an Aug. 17 board meeting that the district's ability to pass bonds without raising the tax rate is likely ending, with debt service reserves projected to hit the board-mandated 10% floor by fiscal year 2029-30.

At the Sept. 1 hearing, Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, called the state's $51 billion property tax relief commitment "a structural deficit on layaway," saying the surplus that funded the exemptions has shrunk. Separately, Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders in July directed nearly all state agencies to cut base budget requests by 3% for the 2028-29 biennium.

Abbott has pledged to eliminate school district property taxes entirely during the next legislative session. The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to consider additional relief measures Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Galveston County property owners who want to receive their 2026 tax statements by email must sign up by Tuesday, Sept. 15 at galcotax.com.