Do MUD tax rates go down over time? (home, subdivision)

[Sollaces]

Huh. Lived in one place for almost ten years and the tax rate keeps climbing. MUD rates still high.


My advice is if you move, check HOA's and MUD rates and judge what you'll be paying compared to nearby areas. Even in one place, like the city of Katy -- You can have city water and sewer in some neighborhoods, others are on various MUD districts. Various HOA's and no HOA's. Everything is so different you need to look at the fine details.

[War Beagle]

Originally Posted by Sollaces

Even if everything is paid off, then things start to break and costs go towards maintenance.

Exactly right. Your best chance to see the MUD tax drop or go away is if you are in a part of the ETJ that a city wants to annex. They'll pay down the MUD debt so that the city will annex the neighborhood and then tie in the water and sewer systems into the city's. But at that point, you'll be paying city taxes.

But if the city isn't going to annex then the MUD taxes will be perpetual. Things will always need replacing and those types of projects are always big ticket items.

People get worked up about MUD and city taxes, and that's understandable. But rarely do people seem to get mad at their ISD taxes, which are almost always at least double a city or MUD rate. From what I can tell, the ISDs flush a heck of a lot more money down the toilet than the cities or MUDs do.

[Failed Engineer]

I think the difference is that everyone understands paying ISD taxes, and that they are the same for everyone with a home zoned to the same district. How effectively or not the school districts spend the money doesn't affect the home purchase either way to buyers. The MUD taxes get under peoples skin because they can't believe the total tax rates are so much higher in new neighborhoods, and the delta is always explained by the MUD taxes.

It's all about the dollars going out of the homeowners wallet, not who it's going to, when it comes to discussing the MUDs and tax rates.

[RedOrDead_YNWA]

Does anyone know if Long Meadow Farms MUD has been going down? Overall tax rate is 3.11 right now, which is decent for a community still throwing up new builds. However I know the neighborhood started building since around 2008, so hoping that approaching the 10 year mark reductions could be in the future?

[War Beagle]

Originally Posted by Failed Engineer

I think the difference is that everyone understands paying ISD taxes, and that they are the same for everyone with a home zoned to the same district. How effectively or not the school districts spend the money doesn't affect the home purchase either way to buyers. The MUD taxes get under peoples skin because they can't believe the total tax rates are so much higher in new neighborhoods, and the delta is always explained by the MUD taxes.

It's all about the dollars going out of the homeowners wallet, not who it's going to, when it comes to discussing the MUDs and tax rates.

What it boils down to is that people want municipal services AND low/no taxes. There's also a general lack of understanding about how municipal services work. It's entirely possible to have no MUD or city taxes. It's simply involves having a well, septic system and personal solid waste account. But most people don't want that.

For what it's worth, I think city taxes usually offer more value than MUD taxes. There is also much more transparency in city governance than MUD governance. MUDs are very opaque organizations run by attorneys.

[Harp79]

Why in SCR do we pay MUD taxes and city taxes?

[ars77777]

My Mud taxes are about 65% of my ISD taxes, and have gone up each year. This also does not make sense to me that how much I pay in MUD taxes is based on my homes value. I don't receive a bigger benefit nor do I receive more services for the additional money I pay in comparison to an owner who's house is valued lower. The services to get water to each home are the same, then it's strictly a matter of how much water is used, which we pay for at that time as well. If a bond is put in place it has a fixed value like a loan and is repaid, the amount of the cost should be a simple math equation...total owed divided by the number of homes. This should not increase every year and each homeowner should be told exactly how long they will be paying until that bond is paid off, instead it seems this tax is indefinite. This seems like a common theme here in Texas that does not typically happen in other states. It's a politician's dream a never ending supply of money on someone else's tab.

[deewin]

My MUD tax rate has gone down by 0.05 each year for the past 3 years I've lived here. My ISD tax rate has remained the same.

[ftbend06]

The ones I’ve seen generally go down as the initial infrastructure gets paid off.

Muds do seem less transparent and would not be there if it did not help the developer. But I am not really anti mud. The infrastructure has to get paid some way. Also agree with others though that you get more services for less from the city. But being in a mud is a choice and you can find out info on them if you want. Many people would prefer to just gripe about them without researching.

But they are not going away, you can’t put the genie back in bottle once so many of them have already been created in this area.

[jtothemak]

Originally Posted by ftbend06

The ones I’ve seen generally go down as the initial infrastructure gets paid off.

Muds do seem less transparent and would not be there if it did not help the developer. But I am not really anti mud. The infrastructure has to get paid some way. Also agree with others though that you get more services for less from the city. But being in a mud is a choice and you can find out info on them if you want. Many people would prefer to just gripe about them without researching.

But they are not going away, you can’t put the genie back in bottle once so many of them have already been created in this area.

As you stated infrastructure has to be paid for one way or another. Imagine if the developer paid for the infrastructure outright and passed along straight to you dramatically raising the cost of your home another 50-100K. A MUD allows for this cost to be paid in a much smaller amount over the years. The challenge is ensuring the MUD is management properly and often people never take the time to ask their MUDs questions or even attend the MUD meetings.