Financial Transparency
Financial transparency and accountability are critical components of good stewardship of taxpayer resources. It is the Finance Department's commitment to provide clear and meaningful public information, as possible. In support of the open government philosophy, the City of Sealy has established this comprehensive online resource for citizens to review a variety of government information. The City's Finance Department works in conjunction with the administration to prepare and provide financial reports to residents. If there is information not located on this page that a citizen may wish to see, please contact the City Secretary's Office at 979-885-3511.
Downloadable Data
Please note that the links to these registers will download Microsoft Excel spreadsheets containing the payment data to your computer. The raw format of the spreadsheet allows the user to perform additional analysis of the data, such as sorting and filtering.
Tax Information
Property, or "ad valorem," tax is a levy issued by a local government on real or personal property. The property is assessed to give it a value, and then that value is taxed. In Texas, the amount of tax owed is determined by multiplying the value of the property by the current tax rate and dividing by 100, as the rates are expressed per $100 of taxable property valuation.In September of each year, the governing bodies of the local taxing units decide what services they will provide and how much money they will need. They adopt their respective unit budgets and set the property tax rates for the year that will provide the needed revenues to fund those services.
The City of Sealy contracts with the Austin County Appraiser District to function as the city's tax assessor-collector. By October 1 or as soon thereafter as practicable each year, the district prepares the property tax bills and mails them to all property owners listed on the tax roll or to their agents. The district also collects the taxes and then remits them to the city.
Tax Rate Worksheet History
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2023
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2022
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2021
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2020
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2019
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2018
- Property Tax Rate Worksheet for Tax Year 2017
Related Links
Property Tax Assistance (Texas Comptroller Website)
Austin County Appraisal District
Texas imposes a state sales tax on all retail sales, leases, and rentals of most goods, as well as taxable services. Texas cities, counties, transit authorities, and special purpose districts have the option of imposing an additional local sales tax.Texas also imposes a use tax when purchasers buy taxable goods and services for use in Texas and the seller does not charge Texas sales tax or does not charge the correct amount of Texas sales tax. The use tax rates are the same as the state and local sales tax rates. Sales and use taxes are collected by the state and forwarded to the City of Sealy on a monthly basis.
The sales tax rate charged by the state on the sale of each taxable item in the state is 6.25% of the sales price of the taxable item. (Tex. Tax Code Sec. 151.051) In addition to the state’s 6.25% sales tax rate, local taxing entities (cities, counties, transit authorities, and special purpose districts) can collectively claim an additional 2.00% tax rate, for a total maximum tax rate of 8.25% in any given location. (Tex. Tax Code Sec. 321.101(f)) Whether or not the sales tax rate is “maxed out” in a given city depends on what sales taxes have been adopted by the city, in addition to what sales taxes have been adopted by the other taxing entities that overlap with the city.
The breakdown of the sales tax rate within the city limits of Sealy is as follows:
Hotel occupancy tax is imposed on the rental of a room or space in a hotel costing $15 or more each day. The tax applies not only to hotels and motels, but also to bed and breakfasts, condominiums, apartments, and houses. Local hotel taxes apply to sleeping rooms costing $2 or more each day.
Persons leasing their houses, or rooms in their house, must collect the tax from their customers in the same way a hotel or motel collects the tax from its guests. Property management companies, online travel companies, and other third-party rental companies may also be responsible for collecting the tax.
The Texas Comptroller's office collects and administers the state hotel tax, while the City of Sealy is responsible for collecting its own local hotel tax. Local establishments remit the local taxes they collect to the city on a quarterly basis.
