Travis County considering higher tax rate allowed after flooding disaster

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After devastating flash floods hit Travis County over the Fourth of July weekend, the county is considering raising your property taxes to help pay for the damage and prepare for future disasters.

"As we were finalizing the preliminary budget this year, as you're very well aware, the county experienced a devastating flooding event that has caused a lot of impact to our county residents, loss of life, and severely impacted our infrastructure," Travis County staff said during a Tuesday commissioners court meeting.

Under state law, if a taxing unit -- in this case the county -- is in an area declared a disaster by the governor "and increased revenue is needed to respond to the disaster, the taxing unit is not required to hold an election to approve the tax rate in the year following the year in which a disaster occurs," according to the comptroller.

Travis County is considering a special taxing unit at 8% -- instead of the 3.5% voter approval rate. According to staff, that would allow the county to bring in $42 million additional that would go into a disaster response special reserve fund.

That fund would be used for ongoing flood recovery and preparing for future disasters, county staff said.

For the "average taxable homestead" the county would tack $200.64 additional to your property tax bill next fiscal year, according to staff. Of that, $71.66 is the portion of the tax rate that's related to the disaster declaration.

Travis County will still need to finalize its tax rate through its budget process.