MUD and PID taxes, explained

Builders quote prices, lenders quote rates, and almost nobody quotes the number that moves a new-construction payment the most: the property tax rate, and specifically the part of it that comes from a special district.

The two kinds of district

Municipal Utility District (MUD). A MUD is a small government the developer sets up, with state approval, to issue bonds that pay for the community's water, sewer, drainage and sometimes roads and parks. The bonds are repaid by a property tax on the homes in the district. MUDs are common outside city limits, where the city isn't going to run the pipes. In this area, the Grove at Blackhawk, the Trails at Carmel and Flora are MUD communities.

A MUD tax is a rate: a percentage of your appraised value, on top of county, school district, community college, hospital district and (if you're inside a city) city taxes. Local MUD rates in 2025–2026 run roughly 0.3% to 1.0%. The rate falls slowly as bonds are retired and the tax base grows, over 20 to 30 years.

Public Improvement District (PID). A PID is created by the city itself to fund infrastructure in a specific area inside city limits. Pflugerville and Hutto both use PIDs in newer in-city communities (Lakeside Meadows and Sorento in Pflugerville are examples). A PID is an assessment, not a rate: each lot carries a fixed annual amount, usually a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a year, with a payoff balance that can often be paid in a lump sum. It is billed on the tax bill but is not part of the percentage rate, which is why a PID community can show a "low" rate and still have a meaningful extra line.

Some communities have both. Some have neither; Kuempel Estates in Pflugerville advertises "no PID, no MUD" and sits at the city's base rate.

What the base rate is

The base rate is everything except the special district. For 2026 it is roughly:

	Combined base rate (July 2026)
Pflugerville (city + Travis County + Pflugerville ISD + ACC + hospital district)	about 2.14%
Hutto (city + Williamson County + Hutto ISD + others)	about 2.00%

Add the district and you get the all-in rate. Builder data for the communities on this site ranges from about 2.13% (Villas at Rowe, Kuempel Estates, Lisso) to about 2.95% (Flora).

What it does to your monthly payment

Take the all-in rate, multiply by the appraised value, divide by twelve. That is the escrow line.

Home value	2.13% (no district)	2.35%	2.61% (Blackhawk)	2.95% (Flora)
$300,000	$533 / mo	$588	$653	$738
$400,000	$710 / mo	$783	$870	$983
$500,000	$888 / mo	$979	$1,088	$1,229
$600,000	$1,065 / mo	$1,175	$1,305	$1,475

So the same $500,000 home costs about $200 a month more in Blackhawk than in Kuempel Estates, and about $340 more in Flora. For scale: a builder paying your rate down from 7.4% to 4.99% on a $450,000 loan saves about $700 a month; a 0.5-point difference in tax rate on that home eats a third of it.

Two refinements:

1. Homestead exemption. Once you occupy the home on January 1, you can file a homestead exemption. The school-district exemption is $140,000 for 2026 bills, and most entities give a percentage or flat exemption too. MUDs and PIDs generally give little or none. Your first-year escrow is usually set on the unimproved lot value and will jump in year two; ask the lender to estimate it on the full value.
2. Appraisal, not price. Taxes are on the appraisal district's value, which usually tracks your purchase price closely on a new build.

How to find a community's rate in five minutes

1. Pick any address in the community (a listed spec home works) and search it on traviscad.org (Pflugerville) or wcad.org (Hutto).
2. Open the property and find Taxing Entities / Jurisdictions. Every entity and its rate are listed. Add them up. That sum is the all-in rate.
3. If a MUD is listed, note its name and rate. Search the district's name for its most recent notice to purchasers, which gives the bond authorization and outstanding debt.
4. Ask the builder for the MUD notice (required by Texas Water Code §49.452) and ask the title company whether the lot carries a PID assessment and its payoff balance. Both must be disclosed before closing; ask before you contract.
5. Put the all-in rate into your payment comparison next to HOA dues and the rate offer. That is the number to compare communities on.

How long it lasts

• MUD: the life of the bonds, usually 20 to 30 years from each issuance, and districts often issue new bonds as they grow. The rate drifts down as the tax base expands. Some districts are annexed by the city and dissolved. Budget on today's rate.
• PID: the assessment term, commonly 20 to 30 years, or until paid off. Many can be prepaid at closing, and if you are paying cash or have equity to spare, prepaying is sometimes worth it; ask for the payoff and compare it to the annual assessment.

What this means when you shop

Compare communities on all-in monthly payment, which is principal and interest at the APR you were actually offered, plus taxes at the all-in rate, plus HOA, plus insurance, plus any PID assessment. Every community page on this site shows the district type and the estimated all-in rate so you can do that in one glance, and the free guide has a worked comparison across all of them.