Little Elm's new budget year began Thursday, Oct. 1, and with it the spending plan and property tax rate the Town Council adopted on Sept. 1.
Ordinance No. 1872 appropriates $177,936,591 for fiscal 2026-27, which runs through Sept. 30, 2027. The money covers operating costs, capital projects and debt payments.
In the ordinance, the town states that the budget will raise $1,483,214 less in total property taxes than last year's budget, a decline of 2.97%, and that $1,308,239 in tax revenue will come from new property added to the roll this year.
The rate
Under Ordinance No. 1873, the total rate is $0.549899 per $100 of assessed value, compared with $0.549901 last year according to the tax rate table on the town's budget page. The new rate splits into $0.470820 for general operations and about 7.9 cents to pay principal and interest on bonded debt.
The town's posted figures put the 2026 no-new-revenue rate at $0.573938 and the voter-approval rate at $0.549899, the same as the adopted rate.
State law requires a plain-language notice in the ordinance, and Little Elm's reads that the rate "will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year's tax rate." The notice says the operating rate is effectively raised by 3.50% and would add about $29.43 in operations taxes on a $100,000 home.
