Bee Cave City Council proposed maintaining its two-cent tax rate for fiscal year 2026-2027 at a council meeting on Aug. 11.

The city is also expected to have an over $1.5 million general fund surplus as revenues are anticipated to be $14.3 million and expenses at $12.6 million.

The overview: The average taxable home in Bee Cave is valued at $768,061 for 2026, compared to $768,375 in 2025.

Under the proposed tax rate, the average annual property tax will be $152.61, a seven-cent decrease from the previous fiscal year due to the slight decrease in property values.

The no-new-revenue tax rate would be slightly higher than the proposed rate at $0.020027 and the voter approval rate would be $0.087759.

“The city of Bee Cave’s budget is in a very good place,” City Manager Julie Oakley said. “We rely mostly on sales tax and a small amount of property tax ... we’re really blessed to have sales tax to fund most of our government.”

The Leander ISD board of trustees is still weighing whether a multimillion-dollar bond and voter-approval tax rate election will be on the November ballot, as discussed at its Aug. 6 meeting.

The discussion: The proposed fiscal year 2026-27 tax rate with a VATRE would be $1.1169 per $100 of valuation, and $1.0869 without a VATRE. Based on LISD's average taxable value home of $460,292, taxpayers could expect to see an increase of $27.56 annually with a VATRE, or a $110.53 annual decline without a VATRE. 

What else? The Citizens' Facility Advisory Committee's list of bond recommendations includes 13 elementary projects, 12 middle school projects, 11 information technology projects, 10 ancillary projects, 10 high school projects and eight safety and security projects. A four-year bond cycle would cost $708.5 million, while a three-year bond cycle would cost $591.23 million.

What's next: The board must call for an election by Aug. 17 in order to place the bond package or VATRE on the Nov. 3 ballot, and must set the 2026-27 tax rate by then. 

From 2020-25, more than 45,000 wildfires burned over 2.7 million acres of Texas land, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Ahead of the 2027 state legislative session, lawmakers are looking into ways to better prevent wildfires from happening and prepare communities to respond when fires do start.

The background: In 2025, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 34, which required the Texas A&M Forest Service to create a statewide database of firefighting equipment; established a council to improve emergency communications between local, state and federal agencies; and increased funding to help rural volunteer fire departments purchase equipment from $30 million to $40 million.

Quote of note: Sen. Kevin Sparks, a Midland Republican who authored the law, said more work needs to be done to increase wildfire preparedness across the state.

"As we move forward, our focus should be on a more proactive approach that prioritizes prevention and mitigation alongside response preparedness," Sparks said during an Aug. 11 hearing of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs.