San Antonio Standard

San Antonio is among a dozen Texas cities that have put a combined $2.3 billion in new debt up for vote on May 7. These new bonds would add to the debt currently being paid down by city residents, and while property tax rates might remain nominally unchanged, more debt would increase the payment burden for every individual.

According to Texas Scorecard, any new bond that is approved will be added to the existing debt of the city that will be paid by its residents. While property tax rates in these cities may remain the same, increasing the debt payments of the city would increase the amount of property taxes that need to be paid.

The city of San Antonio has six bond propositions totaling $1.19 billion on the ballot on May 7, according to a press release from the city's website. This is the largest proposed bond on any ballot, and the city estimates that the bonds would cost taxpayers more than $1.8 billion with interest.

The Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA) published a report earlier this month detailing increasing property tax rates across the state of Texas. They noted that Texans should expect to experience "sticker shock" when receiving their appraisals this year, but that ultimately Texans do have some control over their property tax rates.

"The simple truth is no matter what your appraisal, property tax bills would not be going up unless local jurisdictions wanted to spend more money," TTARA wrote in the report. "Regardless of your 2022 appraisal, right now your 2022 tax bill is zero. Your tax bill won’t be set until the jurisdictions in which you reside decide how much money they want to raise and set their tax rates."

According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the state’s total local debt burden, including principal and interest, was more than $365.3 billion in 2019, or a debt of $12,500 for every Texan.