After months of deliberation and planning, the Conroe ISD board of trustees officially approved a lower tax rate for the 2026-27 fiscal year at the Aug. 18 regular meeting.

The cost: As previously reported, CISD began drafting initial projections for the new tax rate in January. The seven-month-long process ended on Aug. 18 when the board approved a new tax rate of $0.9471 per $100 valuation presented by CISD Chief Financial Officer Karen Garza. When broken down, the rate is comprised of $0.6671 for maintenance and operations and $0.28 for debt service per $100 of taxable valuation. The budget for FY 2026-27 is officially set to be $769.6 million.

Quote of note: The CISD board of trustees noted the upcoming pitfalls they may face in the near future with their budget and debt. Trustee Melissa Dungan has said that the district is heading into a legislative year, and things can rapidly change when it comes to school financing.

Check out the real estate data for the Conroe-Montgomery area in July and how it compares to the same month last year.

What to know: More homes overall were sold in the area, data shows.

Diving in deeper: Meanwhile, five of the eight ZIP coes saw the median price of a home increase in July compared to July 2025.

Also of note: The median number of days a home sat on the market fluctuated by ZIP code.

What else: Also, the majority of homes sold in the area in July fell between the price range of $250,000 and $499,999.

Conroe City Council voted Aug. 13 to propose a property tax rate of $0.5069 per $100 valuation, giving the city flexibility as officials continue working through the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

The overview: The rate is the city's voter-approval rate, or the highest rate council could later adopt without triggering an automatic election. It does not mean the city has adopted that rate.

Council can still approve a lower rate, including the current $0.4272 rate, but cannot go higher than the rate proposed Aug. 13. The no-new-revenue rate is $0.4270.

The details: Council member David Hairel raised the possibility of proposing the higher rate while the city continues evaluating public safety spending.

"I don't think there's consensus or even a thought of raising taxes," Hairel said, adding that the city could need additional flexibility depending on the police department's needs.

Finance staff recommended proposing the voter-approval rate for now.