What Is the Santa Rita Ranch Property Tax Rate?

The Santa Rita Ranch property tax rate runs roughly $2.45 per $100 of assessed value, though the exact total depends on which Municipal Utility District your lot sits in. A sample 2026 property pulled from Williamson Central Appraisal District records shows a combined rate of $2.4447 per $100, split among the school district, the county, and the MUD.¹ Each taxing entity sets its own rate every year, so the total shifts from year to year and from one section of the development to another.

What Makes Up the Combined Rate

Your bill is the sum of several independent levies, each applied to your home’s appraised value. For the 2026 tax year, a representative Santa Rita Ranch property carries these rates per $100 of assessed value:¹

Liberty Hill ISD: $1.2389. This is the single largest slice. Voters approved a tax ratification election in November 2025 that raised the district rate by about $0.07 over the prior year.²
Williamson County general: $0.3694, funding courts, law enforcement, and county administration.
Williamson County FM/Road: $0.0443, a separate levy for farm-to-market roads and county road maintenance.
Municipal Utility District: roughly $0.79 in this sample, covering MUD debt service and operations. This piece varies by lot.

Totaled, the sample property pays $2.4447 per $100.¹ To find your own exact combined rate, search your property by address or account number on the Williamson Central Appraisal District site and open the Entities and Exemptions tab. That page lists every taxing entity, its rate, and your taxable value under each one.

Why Two Santa Rita Ranch Homes Can Have Different Totals

Santa Rita Ranch lots fall under either Williamson County MUD No. 12 or Williamson County MUD No. 13. A Municipal Utility District is a special-purpose political entity created under Texas Water Code Chapter 54 with authority to issue bonds and levy taxes to build water, sewer, and drainage infrastructure.³ Each MUD issued its own bonds for its portion of the development, so each carries a distinct rate.

The MUD tax has two components. A maintenance and operations portion covers day-to-day water and sewer system costs, and a debt service portion repays the bonds. For MUD No. 13, the maintenance and operations rate for 2025–2026 is $0.1438 per $100, with debt service added on top.⁴ As the bonds get paid down, the debt service portion can decrease, though new bonds or rising operating costs can offset that. An elected board of directors sets the MUD rate each year, and residents of the MUD vote for those board members.

Exemptions That Lower Your Taxable Value

Exemptions reduce your home’s taxable value before the rate is applied, which is the most direct way to lower what you owe.

General Residence Homestead

If you own and occupy the home as your primary residence on January 1 of the tax year, you can exempt $140,000 of appraised value from school district taxes.⁵⁶ On a home appraised at $400,000, that drops the school-taxable value to $260,000. At the Liberty Hill ISD rate of $1.2389 per $100, the exemption saves roughly $1,735 a year on the school portion alone.

Over-65 and Disability

Homeowners who are 65 or older, or who are disabled, get an additional $60,000 exemption from school district taxes on top of the general homestead, bringing the total school exemption to $200,000.⁵ Equally valuable: once you qualify, your school district taxes are frozen at that year’s amount and cannot rise as long as you own and live in the home, even if your appraised value climbs. Homeowners 65 and older can also pay in four equal installments due before February 1, April 1, June 1, and August 1, with no penalty or interest as long as each payment arrives on time. Written notice of your intent to use installments must come with the first payment.⁷

Disabled Veteran

Veterans with a 100% disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs qualify for a complete exemption from all property taxes on their home. The benefit extends to a surviving spouse who has not remarried, provided the home was the surviving spouse’s residence when the veteran died and remains so.⁵

Applying

All of these exemptions use the same application, Form 50-114, available on the Williamson Central Appraisal District site or from the Texas Comptroller.⁸ You will need a copy of your Texas driver’s license or state ID, and the address on it must match the property address you are claiming.⁹ Confidential owners and active-duty military members can substitute a utility bill. The general deadline is before May 1, though late applications for the general homestead exemption can still be filed up to two years after that deadline.

Protesting Your Appraised Value

The other lever on your bill is the appraised value itself. The Williamson Central Appraisal District sets your home’s value as of January 1, and that value feeds every entity’s calculation. Filing a protest costs nothing.

The deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal district mails your notice of appraised value, whichever is later.¹⁰ Miss it and you generally lose the right to challenge that year’s value, though exceptions exist for good cause and certain employment situations.

After filing, you typically get an informal hearing first: a one-on-one meeting, often by phone, where a staff appraiser reviews your evidence and may offer a lower value. If no agreement is reached, the case moves to the Appraisal Review Board, a panel of independent citizens who hear both sides and issue a binding determination.¹¹ The strongest evidence is recent sales of comparable Santa Rita Ranch homes, photos of condition issues the district may not know about, and any independent appraisal you have.

Due Dates and Late Penalties

The Williamson County Tax Assessor-Collector collects for every entity on your bill. Statements typically go out in October, and the full balance is due by January 31.¹² Online payments made through tax.wilcotx.gov by 11:59 p.m. Central Time on January 31 count as timely. Credit and debit card payments carry a 2.15% convenience fee with a $2.50 minimum, passed through to the cardholder.¹³ Partial payments are accepted, but they do not stop penalties and interest on the unpaid balance once the delinquency date passes.

Taxes become delinquent on February 1. A 6% penalty plus 1% interest hits immediately, totaling 7% on day one.¹² The penalty then climbs by 1% each month through June, with interest adding another 1% a month.¹⁴ On July 1 the penalty jumps to 12% regardless of when the delinquency began, and a collection penalty of up to 20% can be added if the taxing unit has contracted with an attorney for collection. That 20% is calculated on the total outstanding amount, including base tax, penalties, and interest already owed.¹⁵ On a $10,000 tax bill left unpaid through July, that works out to roughly $3,200 in combined penalties, interest, and collection costs. The math gets ugly fast, which is why January 31 is the date on a Santa Rita Ranch homeowner’s calendar that matters most.

1
Williamson Central Appraisal District. Property Detail – R478069
2
LH Votes. Liberty Hill ISD 2025 Tax Ratification Election
3
State of Texas. Texas Water Code Chapter 54
4
Williamson County MUD 13. Financials and SB 2 Disclosure
5
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions
6
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax System Basics
7
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Payment Options
8
Williamson Central Appraisal District. Homestead Exemptions Application – Form 50-114
9
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application – Form 50-114
10
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 41.44 – Notice of Protest
11
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Protest and Appeal Procedures
12
Williamson County, TX. Property Tax
13
Williamson County, TX. Payment Options
14
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 33.01 – Penalties and Interest
15
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 33.07