If your Hays County land was taxed on a few thousand dollars last year and on its full market value this year, something specific happened. It is usually one of three things, and two of them are paperwork. Either way, it is usually fixable, and I will tell you which it is for free.
I reply within one or two business days with your actual numbers, and which door you are behind.
The appraisal district removes an ag valuation automatically in three situations. In two of them, the farming never stopped. The landowner just did not know a new application was due.
An inheritance, a spouse coming off the deed, moving the land into a trust, even a name correction. Any change to the owner of record takes the valuation off on the next January 1 until the current owner files a fresh application in their own name.
The valuation does not transfer at closing. Most title companies never mention it. The new owner finds out a year later when the bill arrives at full market value. The land's history still counts toward the five-of-seven test, so you are not starting over.
A field inspection found no active use, an application on file was over ten years old, or an AG Fact Sheet went unanswered. This is the one where something actually has to go back on the land.
Set the acreage, the land value from your notice, and your school district. The rate is built from the actual taxing entities for that district, not a county average. For the exact figure on your parcel, use the form.
Hays County sets the number of colonies by acreage, starting at six on five acres and adding one for every extra acre and a half. You do not keep the bees yourself. A local beekeeper places them, keeps them alive, meets the county's inspector, and you get the valuation.
Quotes I have seen this year run from $425 to $780 per hive per year. The beekeeper I am placing with charges $550 per hive up front and $540 per hive per year after that. So a 12-hive parcel is about $6,600 to start and $6,480 a year.
On a small parcel that means the first year can be a wash once the setup cost is in, and the savings come every year after. On a bigger or more valuable parcel it is not a close call. The calculator above shows both years so you can see which one you are.
There is also a rollback tax. If the land ever loses the valuation again, the county can go back three years and collect the difference plus interest. That matters if you plan to sell to a developer or subdivide. If you plan to keep the place, it does not.
| Acres | Colonies | Up front | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 6 | $3,300 | $3,240 |
| 8 | 8 | $4,400 | $4,320 |
| 11 | 10 | $5,500 | $5,400 |
| 14 | 12 | $6,600 | $6,480 |
| 17 | 14 | $7,700 | $7,560 |
| 20 | 16 | $8,800 | $8,640 |
The address or the parcel ID off your notice, and whether it had the valuation before. That is the whole form.
Your parcel's roll history, the reason the valuation came off if it did, the actual entities that tax it, and what bees would save and cost. You get it in writing, thin margins included.
If it is a form, I will walk you through it. If it is bees, I introduce you to a local beekeeper and you deal with them directly. I am paid by the beekeeper for the introduction, not by you.
I'm Wes Adamson, born and raised in Blanco County. I started Bees Pay Taxes because I was tired of watching Hill Country families get priced off land their grandparents bought.
The Texas ag valuation exists for exactly this reason: to keep working land working, instead of forcing families to sell to developers to cover the tax bill. The savings are real and the mechanism is legal. Most landowners just do not know how to use it, and a lot of the ones who had it lost it to a form they never saw.
That is what this is. A clear estimate, a straight answer about which situation you are in, and a simple next step. From someone who grew up out here.
No. It is a different mechanism called 1-d-1 open-space appraisal. Your land is valued on what it produces agriculturally rather than what it would sell for. The savings are usually far larger than homestead, and the two can sit on the same property. Homestead acreage just does not count toward the ag part.
No. A local beekeeper places and manages the hives, keeps them alive through the year, and handles the county's inspections. You provide the land and get the valuation. Some landowners want honey; that is between you and the beekeeper.
Almost never. The five-of-seven history attaches to the land, not to you. If the previous owner had the valuation, that history is still banked. What you need is a new application in your name, and if the use actually stopped, something back on the land first.
Yes. The county asks land inside a city to have been in continuous agricultural use for the five preceding years, with no rest periods. If the valuation lapsed and the use stopped, that gap matters more inside a city than out. Tell me which city and I will be straight with you about it.
The rollback tax. If the land loses ag status later, almost always because it is subdivided or sold to a developer, the county can collect up to three years of the difference plus interest. For someone keeping the land, it is not an issue. For someone planning to flip it, it can wipe out the savings. I flag it in every estimate.
The estimate is free. If it turns out you only need a form, that is free too. If you go the bee route you pay the beekeeper directly, and the current numbers are on this page: $550 a hive up front and $540 a hive a year with the one I work with. I am paid by the beekeeper for the introduction.
No. Bees Pay Taxes is an independent service. Hays CAD makes every actual valuation decision, and their current guidelines are the rulebook I work from.
Bees are capped at 20 acres by state law. Above that, grazing, hay or wildlife management are the paths, and I can point you at the right people, but bees are what I do.
Find out which door you are behind. It takes about a minute.
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