I don't know what is taking HCAD so long to update the tax rates, but I needed to calculate my bill come next January. All tax rates are posted online from the various districts..

District - 2013 Rate per $100 - 2014 Rate per $100 - Homestead Exemption

HISD - 1.1867 - 1.1967 - $15k + 20%
Harris County - 0.41455 - 0.39135 - 20%
Flood Control - 0.28270 - 0.02658 - 20%
Port of Houston - 0.01716 - 0.01614 - 20%
Hospital District - 0.17000 - 0.15989 - 20%
Education Dept. - 0.006358 - 0.0059999 - 20%
Houston Community College - 0.097173 - 0.090554 - 10%
City of Houston - 0.638750 - 0.603431 - 20%

With homestead exemption:
2013 Tax Bill = 0.02056886 x appraised value - $178.01
2014 Tax Bill = 0.02001571 x appraised value - $179.51

Without homestead exemption:
2013 Tax Bill = 0.02559 x appraised value
2014 Tax Bill = 0.024906 x appraised value

HISD F U

WTF HISD?

The 2014 rates you posted don't match the rates that appear online when I look up my property.

HISD - 1.1967
Harris County - 0.41731
Flood Control - 0.02736
Port of Houston - 0.01531
Hospital District - 0.17000
Education Dept. - 0.005999
Houston Community College - 0.10689
City of Houston - 0.63108

Dunno if this is a factor but the taxing jurisdictions generally have to hold meetings that nobody goes to or cares about if their tax revenues go up by certain amounts. Values are up but the rates don't go down equals huge windfall for government but they generally get a pass while everyone bangs down the doors at the cad.

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The 2014 rates you posted don't match the rates that appear online when I look up my property.

HISD - 1.1967
Harris County - 0.41731
Flood Control - 0.02736
Port of Houston - 0.01531
Hospital District - 0.17000
Education Dept. - 0.005999
Houston Community College - 0.10689
City of Houston - 0.63108

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Interesting, I got most of them from here.

It seems the rates I posted are those which impose the same tax burden as last year when factoring in the change in HCAD appraisal. So any rate higher than mine is an effective increase in taxes (all but Port of Houston).

And it appears Harris County raised our taxes - as in raised the actual rate, in addition to the appraisals going up. Maybe I shouldn't have voted for Ed Emmett after all.

The county tax rate is staying the same (ie the county is really raising taxes by 9% but the rate isn't changing). They shifted the rate around between the different areas. The rate allocated to flood control by the county is going down, for example.

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The county tax rate is staying the same (ie the county is really raising taxes by 9%) they shifted the rate around between the different areas. The rate allocated to flood control by the county is going down, for example.

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If they want to call the entire selection of taxing authorities collectively "the county tax rate," then it needs to be a single line item on my tax bill. Even still, when I add up all of the Harris County taxing authorities, I get this:

2013 - 0.619178%
2014 - 0.620669%

So ... the collective tax rate is still higher this year. It's only a few dollars, but it's still an increase.

What are you adding in? The Port Authority is also a county rate, for example

The county rate is 62.998 (I used cents because its easier for me to see than the ridiculous hundred thousandths decimal places) and has been that since 2007 when I think they lowered it a bit.

For 2014 that's...
41.731 - Harris County General
2.736 - Flood Control
1.531 - Port of Houston
17 - Hospital
62.998 - Total

For 2013 it was...
41.455 - Harris County General
2.827 - Flood Control
1.716 - Port of Houston
17 - Hospital
62.998 - Total

Again, if Harris County doesn't want it to look like they raised tax rates, they shouldn't break up the rate so that it looks like they raised my tax rate.

There's also the Harris County Education, which I think you added into your numbers, but is not set in the same budget by the County I don't think. When it is included the actual countywide rate is going down a bit since these are the 5 countywide jurisdictions. I don't disagree about the way they do the billing, just telling you how the county looks at it. they are probably required to divide it out like that.