Why did my Texas property taxes go up?

Your tax bill is appraised value times the combined rate of every taxing unit that covers your property, minus exemptions. It rises when the appraisal rises, when any single entity raises its rate, when an exemption is lost or was never filed, or when the 10 percent homestead cap resets to market value after a sale.

The formula, and why it matters that there are two sides

A Texas property tax bill is:

(appraised value − exemptions) ÷ 100 × tax rate, calculated separately for every taxing unit that covers the parcel, then added up.

Two different sets of people control the two halves. The appraisal district sets value and administers exemptions. Each taxing unit's own elected board sets its rate — the school board, the city council, the commissioners court, the MUD board. Neither one sees the whole bill before it goes out.

That is why a bill can rise in a year when everyone involved says they did not raise taxes. The district raised the value. The entities kept their rates flat. The bill went up anyway.

Your bill is not one tax — it is a stack

Here is what that stack actually looks like for a home inside Boerne city limits, using adopted rates per $100 of taxable value:

Taxing unit	2025 rate	Prior years
Boerne ISD	1.0109 (M&O 0.6969 + debt 0.3140)	0.9909 (2024), 0.9932 (2023), 1.1786 (2022), 1.2046 (2021)
City of Boerne	0.4716	0.4716 (2024), 0.4766 (2023), 0.4510 (2022)
Kendall County	0.377 (M&O 0.317976 + debt 0.059024)	0.3827 (2024), 0.38270 (2023), 0.38770 (2022), 0.412700 (2021)

Sources: Boerne ISD rates, City of Boerne rates, Kendall County rates.

That is 1.8595 per $100 for 2025 across those three entities, before any MUD, water district or groundwater district that may also appear on a given parcel's bill. Kendall Appraisal District lists Kendall County MUD, Miralomas MUD, Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District and Kendall County WCID #1 among the entities that show up on bills in the county (Kendall AD).

Two things to read out of that table. First, the school district is more than half the bill, which is why the state's school exemption changes move more money than anything a city does. Second, rates have generally been flat or falling here in recent years. Kendall County adopted 0.373 for 2026, down from 0.377 (Kendall County), and the 2025 rate of 0.377 was itself adopted against a posted no-new-revenue rate of 0.373981 and was a decrease from 2024, approved at the August 26, 2025 Commissioners Court meeting (Community Impact).

Falling rates and rising bills are not a contradiction. They are what happens when value climbs faster than rates fall.

Property in unincorporated Kendall County does not pay the City of Boerne line at all, and property in the Comfort ISD boundary pays that district instead of Boerne ISD — 0.9328 for 2025 (Kendall County). Which lines are on your bill is a function of where the parcel sits, not what your mailing address says.

Reason 1: the appraisal went up

The most common cause. Texas property is reappraised at market value, and Kendall County grew 20.3% between 2020 and 2025. Rising sale prices in a neighborhood become rising appraised values on the tax roll.

If you think the district got your value wrong, the remedy is a protest — due May 15, or 30 days after the district mails your notice of appraised value, whichever is later (Texas Comptroller).

Reason 2: one entity raised its rate

You do not need every entity to raise rates to feel it. The school district is the largest share, so a swing there dominates. But a MUD, a water control and improvement district, or a bond issue with new debt service can add a line that was not there before or grow one that was small.

Read the bill line by line and find which entity actually changed. Then take the complaint to that entity's board, not to the appraisal district — the review board cannot lower a rate.

Reason 3: an exemption is missing

This one is quiet and expensive. Check the notice of appraised value for the exemptions you expect to see.

Exemptions that commonly fail to post:

A homestead exemption that was never filed after a purchase or a move. It is not automatic.
A homestead exemption lost in a transfer — into a trust or an LLC, after a death, after adding or removing an owner.
An age-65 or disability exemption the owner became eligible for and never applied for. That is an additional $60,000 from the school district on top of the general exemption, plus a school tax ceiling (Texas Comptroller).
A disabled veteran exemption after a rating change the district was never told about.

For 2026 the mandatory school district homestead exemption is $140,000, raised from $100,000 by Proposition 13, approved by voters in November 2025 and implemented through SB 4, 89th Legislature (Texas Comptroller). A homesteaded property in Boerne ISD gets $140,000 off the value the school district taxes. On a $500,000 appraisal, that is $360,000 taxable, and at the 2025 Boerne ISD rate of 1.0109 the school line runs roughly $3,639. Without the exemption on that same appraisal, the school line is about $5,055. The city and county lines depend on what local option exemptions those entities adopted, which is published by the appraisal district.

Reason 4: you just bought the house, and the cap reset

This is the biggest shock, and it is completely predictable.

A property with a homestead exemption is protected by the 10% cap on annual increases in net appraised value. An owner who held a home through several years of Hill Country appreciation can be taxed on a value far below what the home would sell for. The gap builds quietly.

When the property sells, that protection does not transfer with it. The new owner is looking at a fresh appraisal at market value — often the price just paid — and has to file their own homestead exemption, which requires having owned and occupied the home as a principal residence on January 1 (Texas Comptroller).

So the prior owner's tax bill, the one shown in the listing or on the county site, is not a forecast of yours. It is a record of somebody else's capped value and somebody else's exemptions. A buyer budgeting from it will be short, and if taxes are escrowed, the shortfall arrives later as a lender escrow analysis and a payment increase. That call is one of the most common post-closing surprises in Texas.

Reason 5 (investors): the circuit breaker is temporary

Non-homestead real property has its own limit. Under Tax Code §23.231, appraised value increases on qualifying non-homestead real property at or below a threshold are capped at 20% per year. The threshold is indexed annually — confirm the current figure with your appraisal district rather than relying on a published number.

It was created by SB 2 (2023) as a pilot for tax years 2024, 2025 and 2026, and it expires after the 2026 tax year unless the Legislature renews it. No application is required; the appraisal district applies it automatically, and the owner must have held the property for at least one full calendar year to qualify (Travis Central Appraisal District).

Any investor underwriting a Texas rental past 2026 should model the possibility that this cap is not there. It is a scheduled expiration, not a rumor.

Boerne is in Kendall County

Worth stating because it changes every answer above: Boerne is the county seat of Kendall County. It is not in Bexar County and not in the City of San Antonio. Your rates are Kendall County's, your appraisal district is Kendall Appraisal District, and San Antonio and Bexar County figures do not describe your bill.

What to do with a bill that jumped

Pull the bill and identify which line moved. Value, rate, or exemption.
Compare the notice of appraised value with last year's. Look at both market value and net appraised value — they can move differently when the cap is holding.
Confirm every exemption you are entitled to is showing.
If the value is wrong, protest by the deadline.
If a rate moved, take it to that entity's board and its budget hearings.

Values and exemptions are determined by the appraisal district. Rates are set by each taxing unit. For the tax consequences of any of it, talk with a CPA, and take deed, trust or ownership-structure questions to a Texas real estate attorney.

Questions about a specific property?

Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com

This page explains how a Texas property tax bill is calculated. It is not tax or legal advice. Values and exemptions are determined by your appraisal district, rates are set by each taxing unit, and tax consequences should go to a CPA.