Same Price, Different Tax Bill in Santa Rita Ranch

Two Santa Rita Ranch homes listed at the same price can come with very different yearly tax bills. The community is split across a family of Williamson County municipal utility districts, numbered MUD 19 and 19A through 19H. For the 2026 tax year, their adopted rates run from $0.4899 per $100 of value in MUD 19 to $0.85 in MUDs 19C, 19G and 19H, according to Williamson County's adopted tax rate history. On a home assessed at $500,000, that gap is about $1,800 a year from the MUD line alone.

Each district is somewhere in a cycle of borrowing and paying back, and the county's five-year rate table shows where each one stands. A buyer who can read that table knows something the list price doesn't show.

The one line on the bill that changes from street to street

Most of a Santa Rita Ranch tax bill is the same for every home in the community. Williamson County, the county's FM/Road fund, Liberty Hill's Emergency Services District #4 and Liberty Hill ISD apply across the board. For parcels outside Liberty Hill city limits, the MUD line is the one that varies. Here is how the 2026 adopted rates stack up for those parcels, per $100 of value and before exemptions:

The county, FM/Rd and school figures come from Williamson County's 2026 Tax Rates and Exemptions by Jurisdictions schedule, which also lists the ESD #4 rate. Community Impact reported that Liberty Hill ISD's $1.2298 rate is made up of $0.7298 for maintenance and operations and $0.50 for debt.

Exemptions change the real dollar amounts. The school district's homestead exemption, for example, is $140,000 on the 2026 schedule. But exemptions don't change the gap between MUDs. Outside city limits, the shared base is the same across the community, so the difference between sections comes down to the MUD line. A parcel inside Liberty Hill city limits also carries the city rate, which is covered in the lookup steps below.

What five years of adopted rates show

The county keeps a history of each district's adopted rate. Here is how the Santa Rita Ranch MUDs look from 2022 through 2026:

In the county's history, MUD 19F, 19G and 19H are each marked "New for 2022."

The pattern runs in one direction. MUD 19 and 19A were already below $0.85 by 2022. Every other district in the family held at $0.85 for several years, and only then did rates start to fall. MUD 19 and 19A have come down the furthest, by about 15 and 19 cents since 2022. MUD 19E has started its decline. MUD 19B made its biggest cut this year, dropping almost nine cents from 2025 to 2026. MUD 19C, 19F, 19G and 19H are still at or close to where they started.

Why the rates fall: debt spread over more homes

Every MUD rate has two parts: maintenance and operations, and debt service. The debt part pays off the bonds that funded the district's water, wastewater and drainage infrastructure. In the established Santa Rita Ranch districts, debt makes up most of the rate. Of MUD 19's 2026 rate of $0.4899, $0.4299 goes to debt and $0.06 to operations.

The debt payment is a fixed dollar amount, and the rate is what it takes to cover that amount across the district's taxable value. As more homes are built and added to the tax rolls, the same payment is shared by more property. The district worksheets filed in July 2026 show the gap in tax base clearly:

• MUD 19: total taxable value of $697,932,423 for 2025.
• MUD 19E: total taxable value of $268,738,446 for 2025.
• MUD 19B: net taxable value of $219,687,712 for 2026, carrying $1,365,000 in qualified debt service.

MUD 19 has roughly three times the tax base of 19B or 19E, and it has the lowest rate in the family. That's the cycle working the way it's built to.

The newest districts are early in the cycle

The newer districts show the cycle's other end. MUD 19C's rate in 2022 was all operations, with no debt. By 2026, $0.7611 of its $0.85 rate is debt. MUD 19G is going through the same change right now. Its 2025 rate was $0.70 for operations and $0.15 for debt. In 2026 that flipped to $0.19 for operations and $0.66 for debt. MUD 19H is at the start. Of its 2026 rate, $0.69 goes to operations and $0.16 to debt.

So the total rate in the new districts stays flat while what it pays for changes underneath. Once bonds are issued, debt payments take the place of operating dollars inside the same $0.85. The rate only starts to drop after enough homes are on the rolls to share that debt.

The county table also lists each district's voter-approval rate. That's a limit calculated under state rules, and it's separate from the "mandatory tax election rate" that the district worksheets also compute. For 2026, 19G's voter-approval rate is $1.4362 and 19H's is $1.3061, while both adopted $0.85. The adopted rate is the one on the bill. The voter-approval figure is a legal limit, not a forecast. Still, it shows how much room exists above the current rate in the two youngest districts.

Home values have to carry the debt too

Because debt payments are fixed dollar amounts, a district's rate also depends on what its homes are worth. The July 2026 worksheets report each district's average appraised value of a residence homestead, and the numbers don't all move the same way:

An average like this can shift because values change or because the mix of homes in the district changes, so it isn't the same thing as a price trend. It does explain one decision. In its July 2026 worksheet, MUD 19's calculated voter-approval rate came out at $0.5424. The board kept the rate at $0.4899 anyway. Lower average appraisals mean that holding a rate flat brings in less money per home. A board can absorb that, and MUD 19's board did this year. But it's a decision the board makes each year, not something that happens on its own.

Worksheets and final rates don't always match, either. MUD 19B's July worksheet listed a proposed 2026 rate of $0.8276. The board adopted $0.74. Builder fact sheets can lag in the same way. One builder's Santa Rita Ranch information sheet lists approximate 2025 rates, which are already out of date for 19B and 19E.

How to find a specific home's MUD

There's no complete public map in the records reviewed here that matches every Santa Rita Ranch phase to its district. Parcel records do give some clues. One parcel in Santa Rita Ranch Phase 1, Section 21, in the Santa Rita North Phases 1–4 neighborhood, is tied to MUD 19A. One in Phase 7A, Section 2 is in MUD 19D. The revised preliminary plat for Phase 2B names MUD 19C for water and wastewater service. Neighboring sections can still sit in different districts, so the dependable way is to check each parcel:

1. Search the address on the Williamson Central Appraisal District property search.
2. In the property detail, find the list of taxing entities and the MUD code. The codes for this family are M40 for MUD 19, M51 for 19A, M56 for 19B, M76 for 19C, M86 for 19E, M88 for 19F, M89 for 19G and M90 for 19H. On appraisal district records, MUD 19D shows up as M85.
3. Look up that district in the county's adopted rate history to see its five-year trend and how its rate splits between operations and debt.
4. Check whether the parcel is inside Liberty Hill city limits. The City of Liberty Hill's 2026 rate is $0.494268, and it applies only to parcels within the city.

FAQ

Does a lower MUD rate mean a cheaper home overall?

Not by itself. The yearly tax bill depends on both the rate and the assessed value. A home in MUD 19 assessed higher than a similar home in 19C could still have a bigger bill. The MUD rate is one input to compare alongside price, exemptions and HOA dues.

What about MUD 19D?

MUD 19D doesn't appear in the county's 2025 or 2026 rate schedules. One 2026 appraisal district record for a 19D parcel shows a MUD rate of zero for that parcel. That's one parcel, though, not an adopted rate for the whole district. Anyone looking at a 19D home can ask the district directly how it's taxed.

Will the $0.85 districts come down the way MUD 19 did?

The older districts did come down as they built out, and MUD 19E and 19B started cutting in the last few years. But each board sets its rate every year based on its own debt and taxable value, and none of these records shows a future rate.

Questions about how a MUD fits into the real cost of a home are exactly what we work through with buyers. Chappell Realty Group will help you pull the district and the five-year rate history for any Santa Rita Ranch home you're weighing, so you can compare homes on the full tax picture. Schedule a free Georgetown market consult, and bring the addresses.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.