Property Tax Resources · Bastrop County, Texas
Bastrop County
Property Taxes
Austin’s fastest-growing neighbor — where property values have surged and protest filings are rising every year.
Property Tax Resources · Bastrop County, Texas
Austin’s fastest-growing neighbor — where property values have surged and protest filings are rising every year.
Source: County debt — Texas Bond Review Board, FY2025.
🔴 2026 Protest Deadline: May 15, 2026 — or 30 days after your Notice of Appraised Value is mailed, whichever is later. Miss this date and you waive your right to protest.
Bastrop County sits along the Colorado River between Austin and Houston — a corridor that has seen extraordinary population growth and land value increases over the past decade. The Lost Pines region draws buyers escaping the metro, and new development has pushed appraisals far beyond what long-time residents expected to pay. Bastrop CAD appraised the county’s total market value at over $24 billion in 2023, and those numbers translate directly into tax bills that hit harder every year.
In 2023, Bastrop County property owners wholy 10,600 accounts protested. That is meaningful money. If your value went up significantly, the odds of a successful protest are real.
Official CAD site — appraisal notices, exemption applications, and district contact information.
Search your property record, view current appraised value, and verify exemption status through the BCAD taxpayer portal.
Bastrop CAD protest procedures, forms, and deadline information. File online, by email, mail, or drop box.
Every taxing entity’s proposed rate, adopted rate, and public hearing schedule for Bastrop County.
Enter the date your Notice of Appraised Value was mailed to find your exact filing deadline.
Every taxing unit in Bastrop County — your school district, city, county — must publish its proposed rate and hold a public hearing before adopting any rate exceeding the no-new-revenue rate. These meetings are open. Your voice is on the record.
View Bastrop County Tax Rates →Photo: Bastrop County Courthouse, Bastrop, Texas. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
| Taxing Entity | Type | Rate (2025 adopted) |
|---|---|---|
| Bastrop County | County | $0.4287/$100 |
| Bastrop ISD | School District | $1.0700/$100 |
| Elgin ISD | School District | $1.2234/$100 |
| Lexington ISD | School District | $0.8610/$100 |
| McDade ISD | School District | $0.9555/$100 |
| Smithville ISD | School District | $0.9425/$100 |
2025 adopted rates per Texas Comptroller Tax Rates & Levies (source). City, MUD, college and other special-district rates may also apply depending on your parcel. Your total depends on which districts your property falls in — verify current rates at your county appraisal district.
What your Notice means and exactly what to do — and by when — after it arrives.
How the Texas homestead exemption lowers your taxable value, including recent changes.
When a property tax consultant is worth it for protesting your appraisal.
Lesser-known special valuations that can cut the taxable value of qualifying land.
The state office that oversees appraisal districts and protects taxpayers.
Who sets your county’s values and why that role matters to your bill.
Search your account at bastropcad.org. Know your Notice of Appraised Value and the deadline printed on it.
File online via the taxpayer portal, by email to protest@bastropcad.org, by mail, or drop box at 212 Jackson Street, Bastrop, TX 78602. Deadline: May 15, 2026 or 30 days after your notice was mailed.
Recent sales of comparable homes, your purchase price, photos of condition issues, and repair estimates all strengthen your case.
After filing, BCAD will schedule an informal conference with an appraiser. Most settlements happen here before the formal ARB hearing.
The Appraisal Review Board is independent of the CAD. ARB hearings in Bastrop typically begin in June. Present your evidence clearly and concisely.
Disagree with the ARB ruling? You may appeal to district court, binding arbitration, or SOAH (properties over $1 million).
“No person’s particular services shall be demanded, nor property taken or applied to public use, unless by the consent of himself or his representative, without just compensation being made therefor.”
— Section 13, Declaration of Rights, Republic of Texas, 1836Bastrop County is growing fast — and the people who got there first are paying for it through appraisal increases that have nothing to do with what they planned to spend when they bought their land or built their home. Half of property owners who protested in 2023 won a reduction. The system is not stacked against you — but it does require you to act. Look up your value. File your protest. Show up. The people setting these rates work for you, as long as you hold them to it.
