San Antonio Passed Its First Property Tax Increase in 34 Years: The 56.3-Cent Read

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The number that ended a 34-year streak

The 56.288-cent total is assembled from two slices: 35.138 cents for maintenance and operations, the part that funds day-to-day city services, and 21.150 cents for debt service, the part that pays down bonds. The previous fiscal year's total was 54.159 cents, so the whole increase is about 2.129 cents per $100 of taxable value, a 3.9% move. Two things are worth noting up front. Bexar County, by contrast, adopted its FY 2026-27 budget while maintaining its existing tax rate, and school districts run their own separate slices of the stack, which came up in their own elections after this council vote. The city is one layer of a much taller structure.

What the increase adds in dollars

The gap between the new 56.288-cent rate and the old 54.159-cent rate is 2.129 cents per $100 of taxable value. On $100,000 of taxable value that is about $21 a year; on $200,000, about $43; on $300,000, about $64. Exemptions decide your taxable value: with a homestead exemption on file, the city taxes a smaller base than the appraised value, so most homeowners land at the lower end of that range. Keep the scale in perspective: for the typical San Antonio home, the city's entire slice is a fraction of the total effective rate, which runs around 2.27% of value once every layer is added. The increase is real, and it is small.

Why the signal matters more than the cents

Ending a 34-year run of flat city rates tells you the city's budget math has changed, and that is the part worth paying attention to. But for your monthly payment, the layers that actually swing a bill are your school district's rate, the county's rate, and your appraisal. Appraised values in Bexar County have climbed for years, the homestead appraisal cap of 10% a year limits how fast that moves for people who own their home, and a new buyer inherits the current appraised value as their starting point. When we compare neighborhoods and communities, I always pull the full stack for the specific address, because two houses at the same price can carry meaningfully different tax bills.

The checklist before you make an offer

On any San Antonio-area address, run these before you commit to a payment.

• Read the 2026 tax notice for the property: bills were mailed starting October 1, 2026, due January 31, 2027, and delinquent after February 1 with a 6% penalty plus 1% monthly interest.
• Confirm the exemptions already on file, and know what you personally will qualify for after you close: homestead, over-65, and disabled-person exemptions all change the taxable base.
• Ask how the 10% homestead appraisal cap applies, and get the property's recent appraisal history so you know what the next year may add.
• Get the total effective rate for the address, city, county, school district, and any special districts, not just the city slice discussed here.
• If you are 65 or older, check whether the school tax freeze applies the year you first qualify, because that one rule can matter more than any rate change.

This is exactly the kind of line that looks tiny in a headline and large in a monthly budget, which is why we price it before we talk offers, never after.

The honest bottom line

An extra $21 to $64 a year from the city is not a reason to change a shortlist, and it is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to look at the whole tax stack instead of the headline, to confirm your exemptions, and to let the address, not the city name, decide your real bill.

• Your 2026 property tax bill: deadlines and what to check
• Property taxes by county: Bexar vs. Comal vs. Kendall vs. Guadalupe
• The Texas over-65 property tax freeze