The 2025-26 rates, line by line
A Texas property tax bill is not one tax. It is a stack of separate levies from separate authorities, each of which sets its own rate. Here is the stack for a home inside the Hutto city limits.
| Taxing entity | Rate per $100 | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| Hutto ISD | $1.2052 | M&O $0.7552, I&S $0.45. Held flat from 2024. |
| Williamson County | $0.413776 | Up 3.4 percent from the prior year |
| City of Hutto | $0.385928 | M&O $0.252808, debt service $0.13312 |
| Combined, these three | $2.004904 | About 2.0 percent of taxable value |
| M&O is maintenance and operations, the day-to-day budget. I&S is interest and sinking, which repays voter-approved bond debt. Your bill will also carry the county road district, your emergency services district, and any MUD or PID assessment attached to your subdivision. | ||
Figures above apply the $2.004904 combined rate to the stated taxable value and exclude road district, ESD, MUD and PID line items, so treat them as a floor rather than a full bill. Sources: Hutto ISD adopts FY 2025-26 tax rate, Hutto City Council adopts FY 2025-26 budget and tax rate, City of Hutto notice of tax rates, Williamson County 2025 tax rate notice.
Exemptions: the part people leave on the table
An exemption removes value from what a given entity can tax. It does not lower the rate, it lowers the base the rate is applied to. Filing is free, and for the homestead exemption you generally only file once.
Residence homestead exemption
The core exemption for anyone who owns and occupies the home as their principal residence. Two things it does:
- It removes value from the school district's taxable base. Since Hutto ISD is the largest single component of your bill at $1.2052 per $100, this is where most of the saving comes from.
- It caps how fast your assessed value can rise, at 10 percent per year. In a market that appreciates quickly, this cap is often worth more over time than the exemption amount itself. It is also the reason a long-time owner and a brand new buyer on the same street can pay very different tax bills on identical houses.
Over-65 and disabled person exemptions
An additional exemption amount, plus a ceiling that freezes the school district portion of your bill at the level set in your qualifying year. The freeze does not expire when rates rise. For a retiree on a fixed income this is one of the more meaningful provisions in Texas law, and it is a real reason Georgetown and Hutto both draw retirees.
Disabled veteran exemptions
Scaled to disability rating, reaching a total exemption from property taxes on the residence homestead at a 100 percent rating or for those determined unemployable. Surviving spouses may qualify to continue it.
Exemption rules, eligibility and forms: Texas Comptroller, property tax exemptions and Texas residence homestead exemption application. File with Williamson Central Appraisal District.
How to protest your appraisal
You cannot protest the tax rate. Rates are set by elected bodies through their budget process. What you can protest is the appraisal district's opinion of your property's value, and that is half the equation.
- Watch for your notice of appraised value. It generally arrives in the spring. The protest deadline is typically May 15 or 30 days after the notice was delivered, whichever is later. Miss it and you wait a year.
- File the protest. Williamson Central Appraisal District accepts online filing. Filing costs nothing and does not obligate you to attend a hearing.
- Request the district's evidence. You are entitled to see the comparable sales and the methodology they used on your property. Many people skip this. Do not skip it.
- Build your case on two grounds. Market value, meaning your home would not actually sell for their number, supported by comparable sales. And unequal appraisal, meaning your home is assessed higher than comparable properties around it, which is often the stronger argument.
- Bring condition evidence. Photographs and contractor estimates for foundation issues, roof condition, dated systems or needed repairs. The district's mass appraisal model assumes average condition. If yours is below average, that is your case, and photographs make it concrete.
- Take the informal meeting first. Most protests resolve informally with an appraiser before ever reaching the appraisal review board.
Deadlines and procedure vary and are set by statute. Confirm current dates and file at Williamson Central Appraisal District. General guidance: Texas Comptroller, property tax exemptions. Look up any parcel's full rate stack at Williamson County Truth in Taxation.
How Hutto compares to its neighbors
School district rate is the biggest single swing factor between Central Texas cities, because it is the largest component of the bill.
| District | Rate per $100 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Round Rock ISD | $0.8931 | M&O $0.7101, I&S $0.1830. Lowest among major Williamson County districts. |
| Hutto ISD | $1.2052 | M&O $0.7552, I&S $0.45. Held flat from 2024. |
| School rates only. City, county and special district levies are additional. Georgetown ISD, Pflugerville ISD and Taylor ISD set their own rates, which should be confirmed directly with each district. A typical Round Rock homeowner faces a combined rate near 1.68 percent across all entities, compared with roughly 2.0 percent in Hutto. | ||
That gap is roughly 31 cents per $100 between Hutto ISD and Round Rock ISD, which is about $1,085 a year on a $350,000 taxable value. It is a real number and it belongs in your comparison when you are deciding which city to shop.
It is also not the whole story. Hutto homes generally cost less than comparable Round Rock homes, so a lower taxable value applied to a higher rate can land in a similar place. The only way to know is to run both, on real addresses. We do that for clients as a matter of course, and it changes people's short lists regularly.
Sources: Williamson County tax rates, Round Rock ISD, Hutto ISD adopts FY 2025-26 tax rate, Georgetown ISD, Pflugerville ISD, Taylor ISD.
