September 9, 2026

Starbase's September 4 meeting, by the numbers: an $0.80 tax ordinance and the final annexation hearing

We pulled the City of Starbase's September 4 special-meeting agenda, and it carried more than the tax-rate hearing we previewed last week. Two items worth your attention, straight from the document.

The tax bill, in dollars. The ordinance before the commission set the 2026–27 rate at $0.8000 per $100 of assessed value. The agenda's own taxpayer-impact table is the honest way to read it: the median-valued homestead inside the city rose from $48,232 to $58,034 this year, so the median tax bill goes from $265.28 to $464.27, up about 75% in dollars, because the valuation jump compounds the rate increase. (At the no-new-revenue rate of $0.775093, that same bill would still be $449.82; rising values, not just the rate, drive most of the increase.) The city hasn't yet posted minutes or the signed ordinance confirming the vote; we'll link the adopted rate when it publishes.

The annexation cleared its last required hearing. The same meeting held the second public hearing on annexing approximately 7,133 acres, the last hearing Texas law requires before the commission can vote. Reporting puts the affected area at more than 800 properties, and passage would grow the city's footprint from about 927 acres to over 8,000. A final vote is expected at a commission meeting this month; we'll cover it when it happens.

Why it matters here: if you're weighing an address inside Starbase's limits against greater Brownsville, or you own land the annexation would pull inside them, both numbers just became real. Our relocation guide covers the rest of the housing math.

Sources: City of Starbase commission agenda + taxpayer impact statement, Sept. 4 (PDF) · MyRGV — annexation vote timeline · NPR (Aug. 17) · KVEO

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