GLENN HEIGHTS — When Glenn Heights Future (GHF) recently examined Glenn Heights property tax rate, specifically no-new-revenue tax rate, the calculation itself appeared relatively straightforward on paper.
A meeting on Thursday with Finance Director Sherry Roberts showed just how much work goes into reaching that number.
Following questions raised during the city’s ongoing budget discussions, Glenn Heights Future (GHF) sat down with Roberts for a detailed review of the tax-rate process, the information the city receives from two appraisal districts and the tight deadlines staff face each summer.
The meeting confirmed Glenn Heights Future’s previous reporting on the city’s $0.569032 no-new-revenue rate. It also provided a clearer picture of a complicated process handled largely behind the scenes by city staff.
One city, two counties
Glenn Heights sits in both Dallas and Ellis counties, meaning Roberts and city staff must work with property information from two separate appraisal districts and different information systems.
This year, the two sides of the city didn’t even move in the same direction.
Average residential taxable values in the Dallas County portion increased from approximately $309,822 in 2025 to $313,936 in 2026.
On the Ellis County side, they decreased from approximately $320,555 to $311,042.
Those values are only the beginning.
The state’s tax-rate calculation requires staff to account for new construction, exemptions, protests, prior-year adjustments, and other changes to determine the taxable value for calculating the no-new-revenue rate.
Roberts receives certified Dallas County information around July 24. She must then obtain the necessary Ellis County information from another system and bring the two together.
Meanwhile, another clock is ticking.
The Glenn Heights City Charter requires that a proposed budget be presented to the Glenn Heights City Council by Aug. 1 — effectively giving staff until midnight on July 31.
That leaves roughly a week between receiving critical certified property values and the charter deadline, during which staff is simultaneously completing tax calculations and assembling the proposed city budget.
What appears to the public as a handful of numbers on a worksheet represents a considerable amount of work compressed into a short period.
Why propose the voter-approval rate?
The meeting also clarified an important part of this year’s discussion surrounding the city’s proposed $0.590821 tax rate.
That figure is the city’s calculated voter-approval rate.
Using that rate as the proposed rate does not mean it must ultimately be adopted by the City Council. That approach preserves the council’s options.
If a lower rate is proposed, the council likely cannot later adopt a rate higher than that proposed ceiling. Beginning at the voter-approval rate allows council members to consider the budget and work the tax rate downward during the process.
That distinction is important when evaluating the proposed rate: the proposal establishes the upper boundary for council deliberations, while the council will ultimately decide where the adopted rate lands.
Why Dallas County collects taxes in Ellis County
Roberts also helped clarify something that has long confused some Glenn Heights residents.
Glenn Heights contracts with the Dallas County Tax Office to collect City of Glenn Heights property taxes throughout the entire city — including properties located in Ellis County.
An Ellis County resident whose Glenn Heights city tax is collected through Dallas County is not paying Dallas County property taxes on an Ellis County home.
The property remains in Ellis County and is appraised there. Dallas County is simply serving as the City of Glenn Heights’ contracted collector for the municipal portion of the property tax.
It is another example of how being a two-county city can make an already complicated property-tax system even more complex.
A process with multiple checks
Roberts emphasized that the process doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
The calculations are reviewed within the city, including through the city manager’s office, while outside agencies provide and review information involved in the process.
Roberts was particularly complimentary of Dallas County Tax Assessor-Collector John Ames and his team and the assistance they provide Glenn Heights. She likewise praised the cooperation the city receives from Ellis County.
GHF’s meeting with Roberts also underscored the amount of work being performed by Glenn Heights’ finance staff and City Manager Clifford Blackwell’s administration during an exceptionally compressed portion of the annual budget calendar.
Residents and council members can disagree about what tax rate should ultimately be adopted. They can debate spending priorities, city services, and whether taxes should rise, fall, or remain relatively stable.
Those are policy decisions — and they belong in the public debate.
But calculating the numbers that make that debate possible is something else.
Six decimal places may fit neatly on a worksheet. Getting them right takes considerably more.
