Note: Included opinions are from May 11, 2023, through June 10, 2023.
KP-444 (Tax Rate): A truth-in-taxation provision, Texas Tax Code section 26.07 requires a municipality to hold an automatic election if it seeks to increase its tax rates above a specified amount. It does not authorize a municipality to “earmark” use of a voter-approved increase in its maintenance and operation property tax revenue for debt service.
A court would likely conclude that an agreement wherein a municipality binds itself to transfer in perpetuity an increase in its maintenance and operations property tax and is not subject to an annual appropriation and is prohibited by article XI, section 5 as a pecuniary obligation imposed by contract with no right to terminate at the end of each budget period.