The Lampasas Central Appraisal District Board of Directors formally approved its 2026 budget with nearly $700,000 in increases over last year’s budget. The decision came in Thursday’s regular meeting.
The LCAD taxing entities have 30 days to disapprove of the budget increase before it is formalized. A majority of the taxing units must say no to the 78% increase in expenditures for it not to be adopted.
Before voting to approve the proposed budget, board members discussed the purchase of a new 7.5-ton air-conditioning unit for the LCAD office. Chief Appraiser Juan Saucedo said the current unit has been repaired multiple times in 2025 and needs to be replaced because new parts for the old unit no longer are available.
LCAD received three bids for a new unit, with board members opting to take the lowest bid of $17,000 from TexAir.
Saucedo told board members he would fund the purchase by replacing the $44,000 designated in the 2026 budget for mobile devices to aid the appraisal process and apply that toward a new HVAC unit. The district also is seeking two mini-splits, which came in at $8,000.
“The units [mobile devices] would not work for us because the mapping, we still have too much mapping that needs to be done,” Saucedo said. “I think we need to push that down to 2027.”
Although Saucedo had hoped to replace the HVAC unit in 2026, board members felt the current unit might not last the rest of the year if temperatures continue to rise. How the LCAD will pay for the air-conditioner is in question, however.
The district had $101,279 in its fund balance to begin 2025, but with added expenditures since the approval of last year’s budget, LCAD could face a shortfall and have to request additional funds from the taxing units before the end of the year Board member Chris Harrison offered a motion to replace the HVAC unit but for a price not to exceed $17,000. He and board members are hopeful TexAir will be flexible on payments.
The LCAD board unanimously ap- proved the purchase of a new unit. Board member Phil Garrett was absent from the proceedings.
BUDGET APPROVAL
A public hearing was held prior to approval of the 2026 budget. Precinct 1 Commissioner Bobby Carroll was the only community member to offer thoughts on LCAD’s $1,589,294 budget.
Carroll said he felt Saucedo and the appraisal district could have trimmed down the large budget hike.
“I know you have ideas what to do with it,” Carroll said of the increased expenditures. “I kind of like to see things done in baby steps and see how it all works out. This is a big jump, and some people don’t pay any attention, but I’m not real happy about it. I’d rather see it go down and step your way on up there.
“I think you have the money to collect, but we don’t have to do it overnight,” he said.
Of the approximately $698,000 in increases, $112,000 is dedicated to BIS Consultants for deed processing, cybersecurity and IT support. BIS has helped LCAD by mapping 81% of the district’s 18,000 real estate accounts. Also, BIS has helped the district locate hundreds of missing properties that previously weren’t on the tax rolls, with 3,539 still outstanding.
Other big increases in the budget for 2026 include $225,000 for two new appraisers plus employee raises and benefits, $72,000 for the digitization of records and records management, $50,000 for building repairs and $15,000 for a ratio study. Saucedo also is seeking to change the district’s reappraisal plan from every three years to two years to ensure more accurate figures and boost taxing unit income.
Lampasas City Council member Dorothy Person was the only other governmental representative at Thursday’s meeting. She said she appreciated how the district is working to bring more money to taxing units by locating missing properties.
In the city of Lampasas alone, LCAD has identified 195 properties missing from the tax rolls. These have a value of $2.81 million, which has resulted in a loss of $101,562 in tax revenue over the last decade.
“From my point of view, funding you leads to income to the city because the improvements you see and staff you see in place, we, the city, will see an income increase in less than 12 months,” Person said.
Harrison thanked Person for understanding.
“I think a lot of people look at it too that their tax bill is going to go up because we are asking for a bigger budget, and that is actually not it,” Harrison said. “Really, if we get on a roll and get to these reappraisal plans, with the value and everything that is assessed, as long as all these properties are found and spread more evenly between everybody, essentially the tax will come down. Now, that it is up to y’all, the taxing entities.”
Saucedo has argued the budget increase is needed because LCAD is a tier 2 appraisal district and has been since Lampasas County reached 20,000 in population in 2012. The average budget for a tier 2 appraisal district is between $1.4 million and $1.6 million. Those numbers do not include collections, which the LCAD also handles.
LCAD board member Chris Peterson said the onetime 78% budget increase may be too much for the local district’s size.
“It is a big number compared to other tier 2 counties that have roughly 20,000 parcels,” Peterson said. “We are tier 2, and you talked about that and the average budget for a tier 2 county is about $1.5 million for the appraisal side of things. But the average tier 2 county has way more parcels than [LCAD]. They have about 50,000 parcels, where we have 20,000 parcels.”
He did acknowledge, however, that it is difficult to find spots in the 2026 budget that should be cut to lower the burden on taxing units.
“When you look line item by line item, it is hard to say which doesn’t make sense,” Peterson said.
Board members OK’d the proposed budget with all members present.
Taxing entities such as the Lampasas County Commissioners Court, Lampasas City Council and Lampasas ISD Board of Trustees will have the opportunity to discuss the appraisal district’s budget in their meetings over the next month.
