GAINESVILLE, Texas — Budget season is underway across Cooke County, where county commissioners, the Gainesville City Council and several school boards will set the property tax rates and spending plans for the coming year. Many of those decisions begin with public meetings this month, giving residents an early chance to weigh in before rates are adopted in late summer.
Here is where the county's major taxing entities stand heading into the 2026-27 budget cycle, and when the public can take part.
Cooke County
Commissioners have scheduled a special budget session for late June to begin work on the 2026-27 county budget. A proposed budget is typically released in mid-August, with public hearings and final adoption in September.
Last year set the baseline. For 2025-26, commissioners adopted a property tax rate of $0.3433 per $100 of valuation — about 5% higher than the previous year's $0.3271, and the first significant increase after several years of declining rates. The budget passed on a 4-1 vote, with County Judge John Roane dissenting over concerns about the county's revenue projections. The adopted plan projected roughly $30.7 million in revenue against about $31.9 million in spending, with the difference covered by reserves.
The increase reversed a multi-year trend. The county rate had fallen from about $0.41 per $100 in 2021-22 to $0.3243 in 2023-24 before ticking back up.
City of Gainesville
The City of Gainesville also raised its rate last year. For 2025-26, the council adopted a property tax rate of $0.5738 per $100 — $0.4320 for operations and $0.1480 for debt service — up about 7% from $0.5357 the year before, after three consecutive years of cuts. The adopted budget totaled roughly $49.3 million in revenue and $52.3 million in spending, again drawing on reserves. The city reported a credit-rating upgrade in October 2025.
City budget workshops for 2026-27 typically begin in August, ahead of adoption in the fall.
School districts
Texas school districts run a fiscal year that begins Sept. 1, and several Cooke County boards are taking up their 2026-27 budgets this month:
- Muenster ISD will hold a public hearing on its proposed 2026-27 budget on June 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the district administration building, 113 E. 7th St.
- Era ISD meets June 22 at 6 p.m. at the Era ISD board room, 108 Hargrove St.
- Lindsay ISD scheduled a finance meeting for June 17.
The districts are budgeting under tight conditions. Gainesville ISD entered 2025-26 with about $35.8 million in general-fund revenue against $37.9 million in spending — a roughly $2 million shortfall covered by reserves — while beginning to repay the $58.8 million bond voters approved in May 2025. Callisburg ISD voters approved a $25 million bond the same month, which will raise that district's debt-service rate.
Statewide, lawmakers in 2025 funded teacher pay raises through Senate Bill 26 but increased the basic per-student funding allotment by only $55, leaving many smaller, rural districts squeezed between rising costs and limited new state money.
How to take part
Property tax rates and budgets are adopted in open meetings, and most entities post agendas ahead of time — the county on its website, school districts through their online BoardBook portals, and the city through its agenda center. Residents who want a say in how their tax dollars are spent can attend the June school board meetings now and watch for the county and city proposed budgets in August.