Taxes are rising, as are charges for city services

Money paid by city of Austin taxpayers and Austin residents who pay monthly bills for water and wastewater, electricity, trash and recycling collection (as well as a drainage utility fee and a clean community fee) will see their cost-of-living increase starting in October. That’s pretty much the case every year, and this year the city and its residents have all had to contend with inflation.

Looking at those fees, the biggest jump is in the drainage utility fee, which is increasing from an average of $12.17 per month to $13.38 per month, or nearly 10 percent. According to the city budget office, this calculation was based on the property of a residential customer with 3,100 square feet or 37 percent impervious cover.

Austin Energy will receive the smallest percentage increase of the utilities. According to their calculations, a residential customer using 860 kilowatt hours per month has paid $119.26 per month. That same customer will pay $121.96 per month starting with the new fiscal year.

Austin Water figures its average residential customer uses 5,800 gallons of water and 4,000 gallons of wastewater monthly. In 2024, that usage resulted in a bill of $85 per month. Starting in October, the same customer using the same amount of water will pay $91.20 per month, an increase of 7.3 percent.

The clean community fee, assessed on every single-family home, will go up from $9.70 per month to $10.15 per month. Likewise, the transportation user fee will increase from $17.87 per month to $19.43 per month, an 8.7 percent increase.

Austin Resource Recovery, which provides collection of trash, recyclables and compostable materials, figured their residential customer rate increase example based on a 64-gallon cart, which is a medium-sized cart. Their fees will increase from $31.35 per month on average to $33.40.

As far as homeowners’ property tax bills, the city adopted an increase of 5.7 percent with a typical monthly bill increasing from $148.46 per month to $156.98 per month for a median non-senior homestead.

According to a city spokesperson, “The City of Austin offers the maximum allowable general homestead exemption of 20 percent of the assessed value of qualifying homes. In order to qualify for this exemption, the property must be owned and occupied as the owner’s principal residence. Once the exemption is granted, homeowners do not need to reapply on an annual basis.”

Update: Cynthia Martinez, who is with the Travis Central Appraisal District clarified that the last legislative session changed the law. In an email to the Monitor, she wrote, “appraisal districts are now required to audit homestead exemptions every five years. This may require property owners to reapply for their exemptions as often as every five years, depending on our records.”

The city also offers an additional exemption for disabled homeowners and those aged 65 and older. This provides an additional tax exemption for $154,000 of the assessed value of the homestead.

The spokesperson concluded, “Property owners already receiving a general homestead exemption who turn 65 are not required to apply for this exemption if accurate birthday information is already included in the appraisal district records. As with the general homestead exemption, homeowners do not need to reapply for these exemptions on an annual basis once granted.”

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