September 7, 2026 · 14 min read

The Woodlands Approves Tax Rate; Residents Voice Concerns over Mounted Patrol Decisions; "The Woodlands Independence Day" | Recap of The Woodlands Township Board Meeting, September 2026

Public comment from residents fueled much of the night's meeting. Board-approved tax rate, higher than the no-new-revenue rate. And future discussions over "The Woodlands Independence Day" after the anti-annexation agreement with Houston.

Introduction to the Meeting

The Woodlands Township Board of Directors met twice on the evening of Thursday, September 3rd, at the Township offices on Technology Forest Boulevard. The first meeting, at 5:30 p.m., adopted the 2027 budget. The second, at 5:45 p.m., held a public hearing on the 2026 property tax rate and then set it.

Both agendas were short, with neither one mentioning the mounted patrol concerns that many of the audience were there to speak on. All seven directors were present for both meetings, with Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle in attendance as well.

The Quick Highlights

--Many of the public speakers spoke in support of the Alpha & Omega mounted patrol. One spoke in favor of removing their contract. The board took no action and held no discussion on the topic.
--MoCo Sheriff was present for the public comments against the proposed plan of a Sheriff's Mounted Patrol Division for The Woodlands.
--The Township adopted a 2026 property tax rate of $0.1694 per $100 of value, down from $0.1714 last year.
--The tax bill on the median home still went up, $832.48 to $862.81, because the median taxable value rose about $23,600.
--Director Shelley Sekula-Gibbs moved to cut the rate further, down to the no-new-revenue rate. Nobody seconded her. The motion failed without a vote.
--"The Woodlands Independence Day" proposed by the board, after a successful anti-annexation deal with the City of Houston.

Residents Came to Defend the Expiring A&O Mounted Patrol Contract

The Alpha & Omega Mounted Patrol has worked in The Woodlands for more than thirty years. Many residents simply know them as "the officers in the red shirts riding horses around the mall area".

In August, the board put mounted patrol funding inside the law enforcement side of the 2027 budget. That opens the door to a mounted unit run by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office instead of a private contractor. Alpha & Omega's contract runs through December 31st, 2026. Nothing has been signed with the Sheriff's Office, yet.

The Case for Keeping Alpha & Omega

Jennifer Clifton has been with Alpha & Omega since 2012 and in a management position since about 2015.

"We are not trying to be law enforcement," Clifton said. "We are their eyes and their ears of law enforcement."

Evan Keller, in a public comment, put it plainly. "There are a lot of people who do not want to approach law enforcement," he said, describing people who need help but worry about getting into legal trouble. "They still need help, and this offers a way."

Teresa Kenney, who owns Village Books and founded the literacy nonprofit Reading Is Revolutionary in 2024, runs a program modeled on the packhorse librarians of the Great Depression, taking free books into underserved areas. Alpha & Omega's horses are what draw the kids over, she said, and the company has never charged her for it.

"The Mounted Patrol is not simply a contractor," Kenney said. "They have become a part of the fabric of the Woodlands."

The Man Who Owns the Company Asked for a “Fair Comparison”

Frank Keller is the founder, president and chief executive of Alpha & Omega. His company holds the contract, so he has a direct stake in how this comes out. He said as much and argued anyway.

"These people are my family, and I'm fiercely loyal to that family," Keller said. He said this decision affects the jobs of 35 individuals, which is why he was fighting so hard.

He told the board Alpha & Omega delivered 97.6 percent of its scheduled contract hours through August 23rd, and that when a post goes unfilled the Township is not billed for it because of the no-show, no-payment clause in their contract.

Keller also said the Township had published a question-and-answer document about the mounted patrol that same day containing claims his company disputes. "We will answer them as we have answered everything else," he said, "with records, not insults, facts, and non-assumptions."

What he asked for was a side-by-side evaluation of Alpha & Omega, the Sheriff's Office and a combined model, judged on the same standards, coverage, cost, training and readiness.

"After 31 years of service, what we are asking for is not unreasonable," Keller said. "Just give us a fair comparison and give us a fair shot."

One Resident Asked the Board to Stay the Course in their Original Decision

Michelle Knuckles was the only speaker of the night who asked the board to keep going.

"Remain steadfast in your decision to move your contract for mounted patrol to the sheriff's office," Knuckles said. "They cost less and can provide more real protection. They can make arrests."

She said she appreciated the riders wanting to serve, and that the math still does not work. "The taxpayers just can't pick up the bill when law enforcement can do it for less."

Kat Keller, speaking earlier in support of Alpha & Omega, put the company's contract at about $1.5 million a year and a Sheriff's Office mounted unit at about $1.3 million, a difference of roughly $200,000 by her account.

Michael Norris, in another public comment, presented a third option. Norris explained he spent thirty years in law enforcement, sixteen of them over a mounted unit in a North Texas town of about 36,000, and told the board money for mounted units always gets pulled toward SWAT, narcotics and traffic. His pitch was to run both units, the Sheriff's and Alpha & Omega's, at the same time.

"Keeping Alpha Omega and Montgomery County Sheriff's unit working together is a no-brainer," Norris said.

No Direct Response from The Woodlands Township Board

The meeting agenda never included the direct topic of the Alpha & Omega contract, and the Woodlands Township board did not comment directly either.

Previously, though, the Township has said it is not eliminating the mounted patrol program, and that a complete Sheriff's Office proposal will come to a future public board meeting. No date has been set yet, though, for that discussion. The current contract for Alpha & Omega runs through 2026, so there still might be time for further public comments on this topic.

The Woodlands Township Adopts New Tax Rates

The Township's total tax rate for 2026 is $0.1694 per $100 of taxable value, two-tenths of a cent lower than last year's $0.1714. Director Sekula-Gibbs provided the sole disagreeing opinion on the approved rate.

The Rate Went Down but the Bill Went Up

Last year's rate of $0.1714 applied to a median homestead taxable value of $485,695 and produced a tax bill of $832.48. This year's rate of $0.1694 applies to a median homestead taxable value of $509,335 and produces a bill of $862.81.

Lower rate. Higher bill. The median home gained about $23,600 in taxable value, and that outran the cut.

The no-new-revenue rate, the rate that would raise the same money from the same properties as last year, was $0.1654. The Township adopted above it. That is why the public hearing had to happen at all.

When Chairman Brad Bailey read the order levying taxes into the record, he described it as "effectively a 2.42 percent increase in the tax rate." That figure is measured against the no-new-revenue rate, not against last year's rate. It is the language state law puts in his mouth.

Bailey pointed at appraisals rather than the rate. "It's the appraisal caps that are skyrocketing," he said. "We got to look at that."

Sekula-Gibbs Moved to Cut Further and Could Not Get a Second

"At this point," she said, "I think is when I make my motion for the lower rate." Sekula-Gibbs moved to adopt the no-new-revenue rate of $0.1654. Nobody seconded it. The motion failed without reaching a vote, and the board went straight to the rate staff had recommended.

President and Chief Executive Officer Monique Sharp had already shown the board what the different rates would actually cost the median resident. The adopted rate gives up $625,517 in 2027 revenue and saves the owner of a $500,000 home ten dollars a year. For reference, the no-new-revenue rate Director Sekula-Gibbs asked for gives up $1,879,552 and saves that owner thirty dollars a year, or $2.50 a month.

"I've always liked to cut a little more, but I think this is a great start," Sekula-Gibbs said, thanking staff for protecting the reserves. "Reserves are vital, and it's a signature of the Woodlands. You just don't see this anywhere else. It's a blessing."

Vice Chairman Craig Eissler had been the lone no when the board set the proposed rate back in August. In September he voted yes, and explained the hesitation. Property tax reform is looming in the next legislative session in Austin, he said, and nobody knows what will come of it. He said he was "cautiously optimistic about what's going to come out of Austin and how that will impact our future revenue."

Budgetary Presentation of Township Revenue & Expenditures

Sharp presented the budget to the board, and provided context and details when asked by the board.

Total operating revenue for 2027 is $184,283,081, down $17.3 million or 8.6 percent from the 2026 budget. Almost all of that drop is grant funding, down $24.5 million, because 2026 included replacement trolleys and buses that will not repeat. Consolidated expenditures came to $191,085,520, down $45.6 million or 19.3 percent, again mostly capital projects those grants had funded.

Law enforcement is the largest increase in the budget at $4,396,866, or 20.5 percent. Sharp attributed most of it to year two of what may be a four-year pay parity increase for Montgomery County deputies, meant to keep the county from losing officers to neighboring agencies. The board also funded a new sergeant in the constable's office for Children's Safe Harbor and internet crimes against children work, on top of six positions the Township already pays for.

The Township Spent Much of Uncommitted Savings to Buy the Rate Down

The Township will hold $91.3 million in reserves and fund balances in 2027. Most of that money already has a job: an operating reserve of $35.1 million, a capital replacement reserve of $24.4 million, a hotel occupancy tax reserve of $14.8 million, and smaller pots for debt service, transportation, cultural education and health insurance.

The undesignated fund balance is the part with no job assigned to it. Sharp described it about the way the rest of us would describe a savings account. You do not use it to pay recurring bills. It is for one-time purchases and for opportunities that turn up outside a budget cycle.

That account drops from $2,075,366 in 2026 to $167,876 in 2027. The board used it to help pay for the rate reduction.

That does not mean the Township is short of money. The $91.3 million is still sitting there. What got thin is the piece of it the board can spend on something nobody planned for.

One Resident Told the Board to Cut Payroll Instead

A resident identified as Mr. Heath told the board he was disappointed it could not find a way to save a million dollars and skip the increase.

His argument was that Township payroll has grown far faster than the population it serves, and he brought a decade of figures out of the Township's own annual reports to make it. Those numbers have not been independently checked.

He listed what he considered waste: a public-private golf course partnership, subsidized rodeo bus rides, an ice rink, and the mounted patrol, which he said used to be paid for by commercial owners and tenants before everybody started paying for it.

"I appreciate Dr. Gibbs being the sole opponent of a tax increase," Heath said. "I wish you would all reconsider."

Not everyone was against the tax rate. Steve Leakey, in another public comment, told the board the budget workshop information was first class. "I totally support the tax rates that you all will be considering tonight," Leakey said.

The Woodlands Raises More From Sales Tax Than Property Tax

The most unique stat from the night was the proportions of revenue The Woodlands gets from sales tax and property taxes.

In 2027, sales tax makes up 46 percent of Township revenue and property tax 29 percent. Hotel tax adds 6 percent and other revenue 19 percent.

Sharp put the comparison on the screen straight from the state comptroller. Local governments in Texas raise, on average, about one dollar in sales tax revenue for every seven dollars in property tax revenue. The Woodlands is upside down from that.

"How many communities would love to have a revenue source situation like we do," Sharp said.

Bailey, who had spent part of that week at Houston City Hall, was ecstatic at this as well.

"We spent a lot of time in Houston this week, and they would do anything to have what we have here right now," Bailey said. "It's our sales tax, our hotel occupancy taxes, our mixed beverage tax, and our other revenue sources that we have accumulate to 71 percent. That's remarkable. It's truly remarkable."

For scale on the comparison he was drawing: Houston's most recently adopted property tax rate, for tax year 2025, is $0.51919 per $100 of value, roughly three times the Township's $0.1694.

Bailey was sympathetic about the situation. "You feel for them, because I don't think the current mayor has created the problem," he said, describing a "robbing from Peter to pay Paul mentality" Houston has to run just to meet its operating budget.

Director Adam Lamb came at it from the private sector. "When we think of government, we don't think of people that do well with budgets, and you guys are incredible," Lamb said. At the tax rate meeting he offered the line that summed up the mood on the dais: "Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

Director Cindy Heiser added credit back to the board too. "I think we had really candid discussions that are difficult at the dais publicly to have," Heiser said.

The motion to adopt the 2027 budget passed.

September 2nd, "The Woodlands Independence Day"

On September 2nd, Houston approved the third amendment to its regional participation agreement with The Woodlands. The Township board had approved it unanimously a week earlier, on August 26th.

The deal costs The Woodlands $50 million directly. Houston gets immediate unrestricted access to $22.6 million already sitting in the regional participation fund, plus another $27.4 million over three years, $19.5 million of it out of Township reserves.

What The Woodlands gets is protection from annexation by Houston while it stays inside the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and an end to the arrangement that required the Township to park a slice of its own sales tax in a restricted fund Houston had to match dollar for dollar before anyone could spend it.

Starting in 2030, that sales tax stays home. The Township projects an average increase of $4.5 million a year over thirty years.

"In 2030 you're going to see sales tax jump four and a half million dollars year over year over year, forever with a capital F because of the deal that we cut," Bailey said.

"We are bringing money that is raised for sales taxes in the Woodlands," he said, "and we're keeping it at home in the Woodlands instead of paying it out."

Sharp congratulated the board and pointed back at something Sekula-Gibbs had said earlier in the evening. The reserves are what made the deal possible.

"If we didn't have adequate reserves, we would not be able to negotiate with the City of Houston," Sekula-Gibbs had said, arguing for why money in the bank matters.

Then, near the end of the first meeting, Bailey asked staff to put something on a future agenda.

"I would like to add an agenda item to recognize September 2nd every year as the Woodlands Independence Day," Bailey said.

Director Eissler also asked for a park naming policy, so a park could eventually be renamed for this special occasion. Bailey suggested "Independence Park," a name fitting of the situation.

Sources

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