Government

For families in {COMMUNITY_NAME}, Montgomery County’s new budget is more than a government spending plan. It helps determine how much homeowners pay in county property taxes and how the county funds law enforcement, courts, technology, employees and other services relied on throughout a county that continues to grow.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court adopted a $546,808,952 budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2027, during its Sept. 8 meeting. The measure passed on a 3-2 vote following months of budget development and debate over employee compensation, public safety, county staffing, spending priorities and how much additional property tax revenue should be collected.

The new budget is approximately $38.7 million, or 7.6%, larger than the $508.1 million FY2026 adopted budget. It includes a 5% base salary increase for non-law-enforcement employees, another phase of law enforcement pay parity, funding for the new 523rd District Court and higher costs for employee health coverage and county technology.

The budget is paired with a Montgomery County property tax rate of $0.3860 per $100 of taxable value, up from the prior rate of $0.3770.

For homeowners trying to translate those numbers into their own household budgets, however, the impact depends on taxable value, exemptions and changes in property appraisal.

What the Montgomery County Tax Increase Could Mean for Homeowners

During the Sept. 8 meeting, county officials reviewed the taxpayer impact statement required as part of the tax-rate process.

According to that statement, the county portion of the tax bill on the median homestead would increase from $1,018.16 under the prior adopted rate to $1,043.55 under the new rate, a difference of $25.39 per year.

That amounts to a little more than $2 per month for the median homestead used in the county’s calculation.

Individual homeowners may see a larger or smaller change depending on their taxable property value, exemptions and changes in appraisal. The tax rate alone does not determine whether a particular homeowner’s bill rises or falls.

County Judge Mark Keough described the anticipated effect in similar terms.

“Depends on what the average cost of it is, but at the median rate your tax is going to go up between $2 and $3 a month,” Keough said.

For homeowners in {COMMUNITY_NAME}, that distinction matters when comparing annual tax bills. The Montgomery Central Appraisal District determines property values, while Montgomery County Commissioners Court establishes the county tax rate applied to taxable value.

Commissioners repeatedly noted during the budget discussion that they do not control appraisal values.

Why Montgomery County’s FY2027 Budget Is Growing

The $546.8 million spending plan reflects several priorities commissioners said have become increasingly difficult to balance as Montgomery County adds residents and the cost of providing government services rises.

The adopted FY2027 budget includes a 5% base salary increase for non-law-enforcement county employees and the next partial year of the county’s law enforcement pay-parity plan, beginning June 5, 2027.

It also provides funding for the new 523rd District Court, increases the county’s employee medical-plan funding factor to $19,000 per employee, and addresses higher information technology expenses involving data storage, cybersecurity and software renewal costs.

Various employee adjustments and other departmental needs are also included, with the county budget officer expected to file compensation pay plans, salary adjustments and law enforcement step plans at a future Commissioners Court meeting.

The adopted budget is $38,706,124 higher than the FY2026 budget of $508,102,828.

Last year’s budget was adopted unanimously. This year’s 3-2 vote reflected a more pronounced disagreement over how Montgomery County should balance employee compensation with other needs in a growing county.

Employee Raises Became a Central Point of Debate

One of the clearest disagreements centered on the 5% base salary increase for non-law-enforcement employees.

During the Sept. 8 meeting, a resident’s written comments were read into the record urging commissioners to reconsider an across-the-board 5% increase. The resident argued that Montgomery County taxpayers were seeking relief from higher property tax bills and compared the county proposal with a 3% employee increase approved by The Woodlands Township.

Supporters of the county’s plan responded that most county employees did not receive a raise during the previous budget year. They framed the 5% adjustment as compensation spread across two years rather than a typical single-year increase.

Keough defended that position during the meeting.

“I think we’ve been fair with our employees,” Keough said. “We’ve fought for our employees, we’re giving them what they deserve.”

Commissioner Charlie Riley also supported the 5% increase, arguing that the prior year without a general increase needed to be considered when determining FY2027 compensation.

“I’m going to stick with 5% because we didn’t do anything last year and I feel like we have to take care of these folks this time,” Riley said during the budget process.

The disagreement was not simply about whether county employees should receive raises.

Commissioner M. Ritchey Wheeler argued instead for a stronger merit-based system that would differentiate compensation based on employee performance rather than applying the same percentage increase broadly.

“I don’t believe in across the board pay raises,” Wheeler said. “I believe in merit-based pay raises.”

Wheeler said the difference between compensation approaches represented roughly $3 million that could have been used for other priorities, including capital improvement projects and staffing needs.

That debate became one of the defining issues of the FY2027 budget: whether available dollars should support a broad employee pay increase or whether more of that funding should be directed toward other staffing and infrastructure demands.

Public Safety Remained a Major Budget Priority

Despite disagreement over employee compensation, commissioners repeatedly returned to law enforcement and public safety throughout the discussion.

The FY2027 budget continues Montgomery County’s law enforcement pay-parity initiative, with another phase scheduled to begin June 5, 2027.

Supporters of the overall budget argued that the spending plan represented months of work to balance law enforcement, county staffing, facilities, capital needs and other services.

The discussion also highlighted a challenge familiar across fast-growing Montgomery County communities: population growth brings more residents and businesses, but also more calls for service, court cases, road and infrastructure demands, records, permitting activity and staffing needs.

For residents in {COMMUNITY_NAME}, those county-level decisions can translate into services close to home through the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, constables, courts, emergency management, infrastructure planning and other government operations.

Montgomery County’s Tax Rate Remains Below Earlier Levels

Commissioners also placed the newly adopted rate in a longer-term context.

Montgomery County’s tax rate was $0.4667 per $100 of valuation before commissioners lowered it to $0.4475 for FY2019-20. Even after the increase to $0.3860 for the new budget year, the county rate remains well below those earlier levels.

That does not necessarily mean every homeowner’s county tax bill is lower than it was several years ago.

Property values have increased substantially in many parts of Montgomery County, meaning tax rates and homeowners’ taxable values can move in different directions. A lower tax rate can still produce a higher tax bill when taxable property values rise.

That relationship is one reason discussions about the Montgomery County property tax rate, appraisal values and the no-new-revenue tax rate can be difficult to follow.

The county’s calculated no-new-revenue tax rate was $0.3706 per $100 valuation, compared with the newly adopted $0.3860 rate.

The no-new-revenue rate is a state-defined benchmark intended to approximate the rate that would generate the same amount of property tax revenue from properties taxed in both years, subject to statutory adjustments. It is not a prediction of what an individual homeowner would pay.

During the Sept. 8 discussion, commissioners focused heavily on the difference between the prior year’s actual tax burden and the new budget rather than relying solely on the no-new-revenue comparison.

A Budget Shaped by Montgomery County’s Continued Growth

The FY2027 debate offered residents a closer look at the competing financial pressures facing Montgomery County.

Growth can bring new tax revenue, but it also places additional demands on law enforcement, courts, infrastructure, facilities, technology and county employees. At the same time, homeowners are paying close attention to property taxes as appraisal values and household expenses remain major concerns.

Commissioners ultimately split over where that balance should be drawn.

The majority concluded that the $546.8 million budget, including employee raises, continued law enforcement investment, a new district court and other county needs, represented a workable plan for the coming fiscal year.

Two members of the court disagreed strongly enough with portions of that approach to vote against the overall budget.

For residents, the result is now set: Montgomery County will enter FY2027 with a $546.8 million budget and a $0.3860 county property tax rate, along with additional spending aimed at staffing and maintaining county services as the population grows.

For homeowners who want to estimate the potential impact on their own tax bills, the most useful number is their taxable value after exemptions, rather than market value alone.

The broader question will be how effectively Montgomery County turns those additional dollars into law enforcement coverage, court capacity, technology, staffing and other services residents experience throughout the year.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for updates on Montgomery County government, property taxes, public safety and other decisions affecting local neighborhoods.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.

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