Where do Your Property Taxes Go? San Antonio River Authority

A recap of the 2010 property tax bill of $5,029.23 for a $189,930 house.


$58.27 goes to Bexar County Road Maintenance and Flood Control
$30.30 goes to San Antonio River Authority
$258.03 goes to Alamo Community College District (NW Vista, SAC, St. Phillips, etc)
$505.66 goes to the University Health System (University Hospital)
$552.65 goes to Bexar County
$1,074.42 goes to the City of San Antonio
$2,540.31 goes to the School District you are in (In this case North Side ISD)


The San Antonio River Authority or SARA gets $30.30 of your tax bill.  So what is SARA?

SARA is a regional government entity that includes Bexar, Goliad and Karnes counties.  It has a publicly elected board of directors.  It's responsible for:

• Water Resources 
• Water Quality 
• Flood Control 
• Parks 
• Utilities (Water and Wastewater) 
• Economic Development 

along rivers and lakes in these three counties.  So in San Antonio that means it's responsible for the River Walk and all rivers and creek beds in Bexar, Goliad and Karnes counties.

Now luckily the property tax isn't the only place SARA gets money.  They also recieve some money from the federal government (income taxes), fund balances (from investments) and grants and donations.

The money from property taxes is used directly for flood control and water quality protection.  SARA gets $0.02 for every $100 that your house is valued at.  Now as I said before, Bexar County and the city of San Antonio also have some flood control responsibilities.  So the next time you have flooding on your property report it to all three of these entities.

So now when you see a SARA board member on your voting ballot, you'll know what that person does.