The property tax figure printed on a Boerne listing is based on the seller's situation. It reflects how long they have owned the home, which exemptions they claimed and how much their homestead cap has held down their appraisal. None of that transfers at closing. Your bill depends on two other things: how Texas resets a home's taxable value when it changes hands, and which taxing units sit on top of that particular address. Around Boerne, those units vary more than most buyers expect. In Kendall Appraisal District's adopted rates for tax year 2026, some homes outside city limits carry a higher combined rate than homes inside them.
Texas limits how fast a homestead's appraised value can rise. Each year it can't go above the lesser of market value or the prior year's appraised value plus 10%, plus the value of any new improvements. The cap applies to appraised value. It doesn't limit the tax rate or the total bill.
Over a long ownership in a rising market, that cap can open a real gap between a home's market value and its taxable value. The gap belongs to the owner who earned it. According to the Texas Comptroller, the limit takes effect on January 1 of the tax year after the owner qualifies for the homestead exemption, and it expires on January 1 of the tax year after that owner stops qualifying.
For a purchase closing this fall, the timeline works like this:
There is one exception. If the seller didn't receive the homestead exemption for the year of the sale, the buyer can qualify for the part of that year after the purchase, as long as the home is the buyer's principal residence and the buyer claims no other homestead.
The exemption side changed recently. Texas voters approved Propositions 11 and 13 on November 4, 2025, according to a Texas Senate release. Those amendments raised the school-district homestead exemption to $140,000 and the age-65-or-disabled school exemption from $10,000 to $60,000, starting with tax year 2025. Boerne ISD's 2026 schedule at Kendall Appraisal District lists both amounts.
A seller over 65 can carry a much lower bill for a second reason. Kendall Appraisal District says the City of Boerne, Boerne ISD and Kendall County all offer a tax freeze on qualifying homesteads with an age-65 or disability exemption. The Comptroller's exemptions guide describes the school-tax ceiling as a limit on tax, not on value. An eligible homeowner can move it to another qualifying home in the same taxing unit, as the same percentage of tax paid. The ceiling moves with that homeowner. The next owner of the house doesn't inherit it.
So a listing can show a tax figure shaped by three things the buyer won't receive: an accumulated cap, a frozen levy, and an appraisal that may trail the price on the contract.
With the cap gone, the next question is which rate applies to the full value. Kendall Appraisal District publishes six combined rates for 2026. On the ground they look like neighbors. On a tax bill they don't.
| Taxing units on the bill | 2026 combined rate per $100 | Difference vs. inside city limits, per $100,000 of taxable value |
|---|---|---|
| City of Boerne, Kendall County, Boerne ISD, Cow Creek | $1.8635 | Baseline |
| Kendall County, Boerne ISD, Cow Creek | $1.3845 | $479 lower |
| Kendall County, Boerne ISD, Cow Creek, Kendall County MUD #1 | $2.0345 | $171 higher |
| Kendall County, Boerne ISD, Cow Creek, Miralomas MUD | $2.3845 | $521 higher |
| Kendall County, Comfort ISD, Cow Creek | $1.3304 | $533 lower |
| Kendall County, Comfort ISD, Cow Creek, Kendall County WCID #1 | $1.50428 | $359 lower |
The individual rates show how each stack adds up. The 2026 adopted rate table lists the City of Boerne at $0.479, Kendall County at $0.373, Boerne ISD at $1.0065, Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District at $0.005, Kendall County MUD #1 at $0.65, Miralomas MUD at $1.00 and Kendall County WCID #1 at $0.17388.
Moving outside city limits drops the $0.479 city rate. Moving into a municipal utility district adds a rate that can be larger than the city's. A Miralomas MUD address carries $1.00 per $100 more than an unincorporated Boerne ISD address with no MUD. That works out to $1,000 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value.
A MUD rate pays for infrastructure. The clearest local example is Kendall County MUD #1. Its August 2024 bond official statement describes about 2,235 acres roughly 13 miles northeast of Boerne, east of FM 3351 and south of Edge Falls Road. The district lies entirely within Boerne ISD and outside the city limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of any municipality. The developer, CR/KWW Partnership, Ltd., is building it as The Springs of Cordillera Ranch. The statement projected 784 homesites averaging 2 to 2.5 acres at full build-out.
The same statement shows how the rate was set. The 2023 rate was $0.50 for debt service and $0.15 for maintenance and operations, for a total of $0.65. The district's $6.6 million Series 2024 bonds were its first issue. They fund water, wastewater and drainage facilities and are repaid from annual property taxes on district land. After that issue, $74.75 million of an $81.35 million utility-bond authorization was still unissued. For a buyer, the MUD line is part of how the neighborhood's pipes, treatment and drainage get paid for over time.
Miralomas MUD started out as Lerin Hills Municipal Utility District, created in 2006. According to a district audit filed with the Texas Comptroller, its powers cover water, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, irrigation and solid waste, and it has authority to finance roads. Its 2026 rate of $1.00 is the highest single line in Kendall Appraisal District's table other than the school districts.
Homes inside the city pay for infrastructure through rates and fees as well as the tax bill, and both went up this fall. The City of Boerne adopted a 2026 rate of $0.479, up from $0.4716 in 2025. The Boerne Star reported that the average home's value rose from $485,421 to $495,167. As a result, the average home's city tax for the year rose about $83, from $2,289 to $2,372, even though the $163.9 million budget for fiscal 2026–27 is down 7.7%. The city's own statutory notice says the rate will effectively rise 1.3%, adding about $4.70 in maintenance-and-operations tax on a $100,000 home.
Utilities rose faster. The San Antonio Express-News reported that water, sewer and reclaimed-water rates go up 7% starting with November bills. This is the third of five annual increases. The stormwater fee for the average property doubles in October, from $4 to $8 a month. Using the city's figures, the average home's monthly bill goes from $80.59 to $89.97, an 11.6% increase. The higher stormwater fee helps repay debt on a $14.5 million project to improve the low-water crossing on Old San Antonio Road at Menger Creek, which city documents say likely won't be finished until the end of the decade. With two more annual increases scheduled after this one, the utility bill has a built-in upward path.
A city address and a MUD address are both paying off infrastructure. One pays mostly through utility rates and a smaller tax line. The other pays mostly through a larger tax line. The difference shows up only when the full monthly cost of each home is laid out side by side.
Does the seller's 2026 tax bill get split at closing? Kendall Appraisal District assesses taxes as of January 1 and says it doesn't prorate them when a property sells. Any split between buyer and seller is handled in the transaction, not by the appraisal district.
Does an investor-owned home get any cap? For 2026, Texas has a "circuit breaker" that limits appraisal growth to 20% plus new improvements on qualifying non-homestead real property valued at $5.32 million or less. The Comptroller lists it as expiring December 31, 2026.
How do I know which MUD, if any, covers a specific address? The rate tables name the districts but don't map them to subdivisions. Membership depends on the parcel, so it has to be checked address by address with Kendall Appraisal District.
At Amber Howell-Higgs, we lay out the full carrying cost of each Boerne home you're considering: the taxing units on the parcel, how your own exemptions and appraisal are likely to compare with the seller's, and the city utility increases ahead. Contact us before you write an offer, and we'll go through the numbers with you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
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