Two Veramendi Tax Districts Charge the Same Rate for Very Different Reasons

On October 20, 2026, Comal County Water Improvement District No. 1F is scheduled to sell up to $3,485,000 in road bonds. Four weeks later, on November 17, its neighbors WID 1A and WID 1D are scheduled to sell theirs. A buyer under contract in Veramendi this fall is buying into a district that's in the middle of borrowing. The district's financial advisor has said the new debt will not change the tax rate. That's true, and it's also the least interesting part of the story.

On September 28, 2026, New Braunfels City Council consented to all three bond issues. The exhibit attached to that resolution shows how Veramendi's tax districts work. WID 1D and WID 1F both levy $0.85 per $100 of value in 2026. Most of one district's rate goes to debt, and most of the other's goes to operations. A buyer comparing lots in Veramendi gets more from that split, and from how far along each district is in its borrowing, than from the headline rate.

The city line that isn't on a typical Veramendi bill

Start with what's missing from the bill. The September resolution describes WIDs 1A, 1D and 1F as lying in New Braunfels' extraterritorial jurisdiction, the ETJ, which sits just outside city limits. A 2024 city staff report explains that the city's limited-purpose annexation inside Veramendi applies to commercial and mixed residential-commercial properties, and that it exists to collect sales tax. Those areas stay limited-purpose "until the Veramendi Development is fully annexed into the City of New Braunfels," and the report gives no date for that.

Fire and EMS still come from the New Braunfels Fire Department, which serves Emergency Services District 7. Veramendi sits inside that district. Here is the 2026 stack for a typical home in each active subdistrict, using adopted rates:

Comal County adopted its rate on September 17, 2026, and ESD 7's adopted 2026 rate worksheet is dated August 12, 2026. New Braunfels ISD's board adopted $1.0377 on August 24 and described it as unchanged from last year. The district's own announcement lists $0.6969 for operations and $0.3976 for debt, which add up to more than the total it reports. Check the school line against your actual tax statement.

Now set the WID line next to the city line it stands in for. The City of New Braunfels adopted $0.415613 per $100 for fiscal year 2026–27. For every $100,000 of taxable value, WID 1A costs $790 a year where an in-city home's city line would cost about $416. In 1D and 1F the WID line is $850. The gap per $100,000 is roughly $374 in 1A and $434 in 1D and 1F. That's a real cost, but it's smaller than the WID rate alone suggests, because a typical Veramendi home isn't paying the city rate on top of it.

Same $0.85, built from different parts

Every WID rate has three parts: debt service, maintenance and operations, and a contract tax paid to the master district for facilities that serve all the subdistricts. The 2026 splits in the resolution exhibit:

• WID 1A: $0.64 debt, $0.05 operations, $0.10 contract tax
• WID 1D: $0.51 debt, $0.215 operations, $0.125 contract tax
• WID 1F: $0.30 debt, $0.45 operations, $0.10 contract tax

In 1A, about four of every five cents go to debt. In 1F, debt takes about a third of the rate and operations take more than half. A 2024 bond disclosure identifies 1F's homes as Del Webb Veramendi.

How far along each district is in building out explains most of the difference. As of August 1, 2025, the master district's official statement counted 1,007 existing single-family lots in 1A plus 39 under construction. It counted 107 existing lots in 1D with 277 under construction, and 176 lots in 1F with 92 under construction. Those figures are more than a year old, but the pattern holds in the 2026 values. Taxable value in 2026 is $567.3 million in 1A, $85.0 million in 1D and $47.2 million in 1F. 1A is mature and already carries most of the debt it was built to carry. 1D and 1F are still filling in.

Why the rate holds still while the debt grows

What the three districts have in common explains the rest. Each one sets a total rate, keeps it, and borrows as much as its growing tax base can support at that rate. The resolution exhibit says it plainly for each issue: "No change in total tax rate is expected as a result of the issuance of the Bonds."

WID 1D's issue shows how this works most clearly. The district has $6,125,000 in debt outstanding and wants to borrow up to $8,000,000 more, sized to reach about a 13% debt ratio so it can qualify for bond insurance again, as its August 2025 bonds did. Its 2026 taxable value is about $85 million, though. The exhibit spells out the condition:

"Based on projections of growth for 2026, the September 1, 2026 estimate of value is expected to show approximately $109,000,000 of value to support the proposed $8,000,000 bond issue, otherwise the bond issue will be adjusted downward according to that estimate in order to achieve an acceptable debt ratio."

The amount the district borrows depends on new homes reaching the tax rolls. The rate stays put either way. So when a subdivision fills in, homeowners don't get a lower rate. The district gets room to borrow more. WID 1A has more than half a billion dollars in taxable value, and its total rate has come down only $0.004 since the district started. After this issue it will owe $54,905,000, with average annual debt service of $3,330,876 through 2051.

1F is at the other end. It will owe $7,285,000 after this issue, at an 11.83% debt ratio measured against its August 2026 value estimate of $61.6 million. Its payments run through 2052.

Above all three districts is a much larger number. The development agreement between the city and Word-Borchers Ranch Joint Venture authorizes up to $620 million in district debt. Including these three issues, the total approved to date for the master district and subdistricts is $93,695,000. Much of that authorized room is still unused, and the flat-rate approach means it gets used as values grow, not by raising the rate.

The fall calendar for buyers under contract

None of this year's bonds are final yet. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gives final approval to water district bond issues, and Comal.News reported on September 29 that the sale results and TCEQ approval were still pending. The scheduled dates:

1. October 20, 2026: WID 1F expected sale; delivery in November
2. November 17, 2026: WID 1A and WID 1D expected sales
3. December 2026: WID 1A delivery

The final size of each issue can be reduced but not raised. For 1D in particular, the November amount will reflect whether the September value estimate came in near $109 million.

Questions to answer before you compare two Veramendi homes

The public record doesn't cleanly map every Veramendi section to its subdistrict, so it's worth confirming for each address:

1. Which WID is this specific lot in? Two homes in the same community can sit in different districts.
2. How does that district's rate split between debt and operations, and how much has it already borrowed compared with its taxable value?
3. Is the district selling bonds this fall, and what does the seller's disclosure show for authorized and issued debt?
4. Is the parcel in the ETJ, which leaves the city line off the bill, and is ESD 7 listed on the tax statement?
5. What are the HOA dues? They're separate from every rate above.

This is general market information, not tax or financial advice. A title company and the districts' own disclosures are the authorities on any single property.

If you're weighing a Veramendi home and want the district math laid out next to the price, The Renfeld Group can pull the subdistrict, rate breakdown and bond status for the addresses on your list. Request a Custom Market Plan, and we'll start with the tax districts.