Fair Oaks Ranch Property Tax Rate 2026: What Buyers Should Know

On September 22, 2026, the Fair Oaks Ranch City Council voted unanimously to adopt a property tax rate of 31.176 cents per $100 of taxable value. The motion described this as "effectively an 8.96% increase in the tax rate." The city puts the cost at about $209 a year for the average homestead. For someone buying a home here, the change in the city's line is real but small. Two other factors move a buyer's first tax bill more. The seller's capped appraisal ends at closing, and each parcel's county and school district lines decide which larger rates apply.

The Seller's Tax Bill Does Not Transfer to the Buyer

Texas appraisal districts value property at its market value as of January 1. A homestead's appraised value can rise no more than 10% a year, plus any new improvements, but only when the owner held a homestead exemption in both the previous year and the current year. According to the Texas Comptroller, the limit starts on January 1 of the tax year after the owner qualifies.

A long-time owner's appraised value may sit well below market value because the cap has held it down for years. Once the home sells, that protection ends. The buyer's first appraisal can reflect market value instead of the seller's capped figure, so the tax amount shown in the listing or on the seller's last statement may not match what the buyer will pay.

The size of that gap depends on how long the seller owned the home and how far values rose while they held it. A Fair Oaks Ranch home that changed hands recently will likely have a small gap. A home owned for many years could have a much larger one, and every taxing unit on the bill applies its rate to the reset value. The city's line is only one of those units.

Why the City's Rate Went Up When Values Did Not

In August, the Boerne Star reported on the city's proposed budget. Finance Director Summer Fleming described "a slight decrease in taxable value" and also said "Sales tax is probably the city's strongest revenue story this year."

Texas law requires every taxing unit to publish three rates, and they explain how flat values led to a higher rate.

• No-new-revenue rate, $0.286132. This rate would raise the same amount of revenue from the same properties in 2025 and 2026.
• Voter-approval rate, $0.339407. This is the highest rate the city can adopt without holding an election.
• Adopted rate, $0.311760. It falls between the two.

The city's 2025 rate was $0.2853. When taxable values slip, the no-new-revenue rate rises above the prior year's rate, because the city needs a higher rate just to collect the same total. In 2026 the city went further than that. The adopted budget projects property tax revenue $798,595 higher than the prior budget, an increase of 10%. Only $98,628 of that comes from newly added property.

Of the adopted rate, $0.274473 goes to General Fund maintenance and operations and $0.037287 goes to debt service. The FY 2026–27 budget totals $28,384,429 across all funds. That includes a $12,181,655 General Fund, $5,203,674 for the Water Utility Capital Improvement Fund, and $811,763 for the Wastewater Utility Capital Improvement Fund. At the September 17 meeting, the council also selected a contractor and approved funding for the Chartwell Channel Stabilization and Erosion Control Project, according to the mayor's September 17 meeting recap.

The council also heard public comment asking it to cut spending and leave the rate unchanged.

What the Increase Costs, in Dollars

The city's official notice compares an average taxable homestead value of $720,128 in 2026 with $713,498 in 2025. It estimates the city portion of the bill rising from $2,036 to $2,245, an increase of $209 a year. The September 22 agenda used a median homestead of $686,217 instead, which showed a $181 increase, from $1,958 to $2,139. In his September 17 recap, Mayor Greg Maxton described it as "about a $195 increase per resident." The three numbers differ because each one uses a different example. They all land in the same range of roughly $200 a year.

Compare that with the cap reset described above. At the city's new rate, each $100,000 of taxable value costs $311.76 a year in city tax. The school district and county rates on the same parcel are much higher.

The County Line Matters, and the School District Line Can Matter More

Fair Oaks Ranch sits in parts of Bexar, Kendall, and Comal counties and is served by two school districts, Boerne ISD and Comal ISD. The city's property tax statement FAQ pairs the Bexar County portion with Boerne ISD. It also says the Comal County portion can fall in either district, so the county alone does not tell a buyer which school rate applies. That FAQ was written for 2018 tax statements, so the parcel's own appraisal record is the reliable source.

Here are the 2026 rates verified so far, per $100 of taxable value:

Sources: Kendall Appraisal District, Comal County, Bexar County, San Antonio River Authority, and Alamo Colleges.

The table shows two patterns. First, either school district rate is more than three times the city rate. Kendall Appraisal District's own combined example of Kendall County, Boerne ISD, and Cow Creek comes to $1.3845 per $100, before the city rate is added. That is $1,384.50 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value.

Second, the Kendall and Comal combinations come out very close. Comal County, its lateral road rate, and Comal ISD add up to about $1.38 per $100, nearly the same as the Kendall total. The difference on the Comal side comes from the emergency services district line, which ranges from about 4.8 cents to 10 cents depending on the parcel's ESD boundary. The Bexar side has a different set of lines. It includes the county, the river authority, Alamo Colleges, and University Health, the county hospital district. The University Health board met in August to recommend a 2026 rate for Commissioners Court to adopt on September 15. Because that adopted rate and the Alamo Colleges final rate have not been verified, no Bexar total appears here.

School taxes are also where the largest exemption applies. Under the constitutional amendments voters approved on November 4, 2025, the school district homestead exemption is now $140,000. Homeowners age 65 or older, or with a disability, receive an additional $60,000.

Values Are Flat Across the County Line Too

Taxable values that went slightly down are not unique to Fair Oaks Ranch. The San Antonio Report reported in April 2026 that the average appraised home value in Bexar County fell about 0.11% from 2025 to 2026, while total county market value rose about 2.5%, partly from new construction. In May 2026, KSAT reported that the total market value of single-family homes in the Bexar Appraisal District fell by more than $203 million from 2025.

Flat values pull the no-new-revenue rate up, which explains the city's position this fall. They also affect the cap reset. When market values stall, the gap between a seller's capped value and the sale price grows more slowly. A long-held home can still carry a large gap from earlier years of growth.

The Year You Buy

Timing affects the exemption as well. A buyer who takes ownership after January 1 can receive the general homestead exemption for the part of that tax year they own the home, but only if the previous owner did not receive the same exemption that year. The buyer must also live in the home as their principal residence and cannot claim a homestead anywhere else. Comptroller Form 50-114, revised in February 2026, gives the usual filing window as January 1 through April 30 of the year for which the exemption is requested. Because most sellers already hold the exemption for the year of sale, the buyer's own exemption and the 10% cap that follows it usually start later.

A Few Common Questions

Does the new city rate apply to bills mailed this fall? Yes. The rate the council adopted on September 22, 2026 is the city's rate for tax year 2026, and the city's FY 2026–27 budget is built on it.

Did the city need a public vote to adopt this rate? No. The adopted rate of $0.311760 is below the voter-approval rate of $0.339407, which is the threshold that would require an election.

Where does the money go? About 27.4 cents of each 31.2 cents goes to General Fund operations. The rest pays debt service.

Is every Bexar County home in Fair Oaks Ranch in Boerne ISD? The city's FAQ links the Bexar portion to Boerne ISD. That guidance dates from 2018, so the parcel's appraisal district record is the current source.

Before you write an offer, it helps to know the seller's capped value, the parcel's school district and ESD, and how far its market value sits above its capped appraised value. Jennifer Santrock can pull those records for any Fair Oaks Ranch home you are considering and go through them with you before you commit. To start, request a free relocation kit.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.