On a $400,000 assessed value, Lakeway MUD's 2025 tax rate adds $212 a year to a property tax bill. Lazy Nine MUD #1A adds $4,000. Both are municipal utility districts in Travis County, both levy a tax on top of the county, school district and any city, and the only thing separating the two bills is which district boundary the house sits in.
If you are looking at a newer subdivision around Austin, that line is worth finding before you make an offer, not after the first tax bill. We pulled the Texas Comptroller's special district rates into our research database and counted. Here is what the numbers look like, and what Texas law says the seller has to hand you.
What a MUD is, in one paragraph
A municipal utility district is a local government created under TCEQ oversight to provide water, sewer and drainage, and sometimes roads and parks, in a defined area. As the Texas Real Estate Research Center explains, a MUD can issue bonds to pay for infrastructure up front, and the property taxes it levies then repay those bonds over time. That is why the tax exists, and why it tends to be larger early in a district's life and can fall as debt is paid down.
How wide the range is
The Comptroller's Property Tax Assistance Division publishes the total rate each special district imposed, per $100 of taxable value. The latest file is tax year 2025. We looked at every district with "MUD" in its name and a rate above zero in Travis, Williamson and Hays counties: 155 of them.
| County | Districts | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays | 18 | $0.20 | $0.90 | $1.00 |
| Travis | 62 | $0.0531 | $0.6845 | $1.05 |
| Williamson | 75 | $0.09 | $0.6820 | $1.00 |
| All three | 155 | $0.0531 | $0.7245 | $1.05 |
Of the 155, 48 charged $0.90 or more per $100, and 22 charged less than $0.30. The lowest is Lakeway MUD at $0.0531. The highest is Vista MUD at $1.05. The spread inside each county is much larger than the gap between the counties, so a county average tells you almost nothing about the district on a given street.
The rate has two parts
Each district's rate splits into a maintenance and operations piece and a debt service piece, and the mix varies a lot. Leander MUD #1 charged $0.10 for operations and $0.90 for debt in 2025. Anthem MUD in Hays County charged $0.47 and $0.53. Lakeway MUD charged $0.0172 and $0.0359. In the 2025 file, 119 of the 155 districts carried a debt service rate, and across all 155 that piece averaged about half (51.5%) of the total rate.
For a buyer, the debt piece is the part to ask about. It reflects bonds already issued, and it can move if the district issues more of what voters already approved. The notice described below lists both amounts.
What it does to one bill
We used a round $400,000 taxable value. It is not the price of any home, and it ignores exemptions a district may or may not offer. The MUD tax is the value times the rate, divided by 100.
| District | Rate per $100 | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeway MUD (Travis) | $0.0531 | $212 | $18 |
| Median of the 155 | $0.7245 | $2,898 | $242 |
| Lazy Nine MUD #1A (Travis) | $1.00 | $4,000 | $333 |
| Vista MUD (Travis) | $1.05 | $4,200 | $350 |
Between the first and third rows the difference is $3,788 a year, about $316 a month. Put that next to yesterday's mortgage math: at the 7.28% rate we used there, a $400,000, 30-year loan costs about $6.84 a month per $1,000 borrowed. An extra $316 a month in tax uses up the payment that would otherwise carry roughly $46,000 of loan. That is an illustration, not a lender's number, and a lender will count the full tax bill when it sets your escrow.
What the seller has to give you
Texas Water Code section 49.452 requires a person selling property in a covered district to give the buyer a written notice. Under the statute as summarized on the Texas public law site, the notice must come before the buyer and seller sign a binding contract. It can be a separate document or an addendum, the buyer signs to acknowledge it, and a buyer who was not given it before signing may terminate. The Real Estate Research Center says the same: the notice must be delivered before the purchase contract is executed.
Section 49.4521 sets what the notice contains, and it is plain enough to check line by line:
- The title, "Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District," in at least 24-point bold type.
- The current rate: the district's property tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation, or a projected rate if the district has not yet imposed a tax.
- Bonds, voted and issued, by category: water, sewer and drainage, roads, parks and recreation, and any other.
- What the district provides, along with the statement that the cost of district facilities is not included in the purchase price of the property.
At closing, a separate copy with current information is signed and acknowledged, then recorded in the county's deed records. If the district publishes its own notice, the seller uses that one. TREC's voluntary Form 59-0, Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District, effective February 12, 2024, is for sellers whose district has not published a notice. The Legislature changed this section in 2023 through House Bills 2815 and 2816, per the research center, so an older form pulled from an old file is a reason to ask for the current one.
What this means if you're buying or selling here
Buying. Ask early whether the address is inside a MUD. If it is, get the notice before you write an offer, then read three things: the current rate, the bonds voted against the bonds issued, and what the district actually provides. A large gap between voted and issued bonds means the district has room to borrow more. Add the MUD tax to the city, county and school lines in your monthly budget; our piece on the 2026 tax bill and closing shows how those stack, and the property tax analyzer runs it for a specific address. The 2026 rates for these districts are being set this fall, and the Comptroller says it publishes the list not later than January 1 of the following year, so the 2025 numbers above are the most recent public comparison, not what you will necessarily pay.
Selling. If your home is in a district, the notice is yours to deliver, and it has to be in the buyer's hands before the contract is signed. Check with your agent that the district's current rate and bond figures are on it. Our seller page explains how a listing agent handles the paperwork.
Everyone. This is general education about public records, not tax or legal advice. For a specific transaction, a title company, a real estate attorney or the district itself can confirm what applies.
Sources
- Austin Local Team analysis of Texas Comptroller special district rates and levies, 2025 file (source date January 28, 2026; loaded into our research database September 30, 2026). Travis, Williamson and Hays counties, MUDs with a positive rate. Medians, counts and dollar amounts are our arithmetic.
- Tex. Water Code sections 49.452 and 49.4521, read through Texas public law and section 49.4521.
- Texas Real Estate Commission, Form 59-0.
- Texas Real Estate Research Center, "Clear as MUD" (published July 29, 2024, updated May 22, 2025).
If you are weighing a home in a newer subdivision, our research tools and a local agent can show you which district it sits in. One next step: ask for the MUD notice before you write the offer.