Two homes in Pinehurst of Atascocita, appraised at the same value, can owe very different amounts to their Municipal Utility District. Sections 1 through 4, 7 and 9 through 11 are in Harris County MUD 132. That district's adopted 2025 tax rate was $0.06877 per $100 of value, all of it for operations and maintenance. Sections 5, 6, 8 and 12 are in Harris County MUD 151, which adopted $0.298 for 2025, also all maintenance and operations with no debt levy. On $400,000 of taxable value, that works out to about $275 a year versus about $1,192 before any exemptions. The gap is roughly $917, and the subdivision name is the same on both.
Neither district carries bond debt, so debt doesn't explain the gap. The explanation is a shopping center. Across Atascocita, a home's MUD rate follows three things about the district: its age, its debt, and whether a commercial area sends it sales tax revenue. The house itself barely figures in. The 2025 rates are still the latest adopted numbers as of early October 2026, because 2026 rates are still moving through district hearings this fall.
One pipe under West Lake Houston Parkway, paid for two ways
The clearest illustration is a sewer project MUD 132 and MUD 151 shared this summer. The two districts hired a contractor to reline about 4,900 linear feet of 30-inch sanitary sewer along West Lake Houston Parkway between Kings Parkway and FM 1960. The concrete line dates to the 1980s and is being lined in place through the existing manholes rather than dug up. Completion was scheduled for early September.
The contract totals $2,442,042.50. Under the districts' agreement, MUD 151 pays 60.7%, about $1.48 million, and MUD 132 pays 39.3%, about $960,000.
The two shares are funded differently. MUD 151's project notice says its share comes from operations and maintenance funds out of existing property tax revenue. MUD 132's share comes from sales tax revenue under a Strategic Partnership Agreement with the City of Houston, signed in 2005 to prevent annexation. Both districts say their property tax rates won't rise to cover the project. So the same pipe gets paid for by homeowners' property taxes on one side of the boundary and by shoppers' sales tax on the other.
What Atascocita Town Center contributes
MUD 132 lists Atascocita Town Center, Sections 1 through 5, among its commercial areas, alongside residential areas that include Atascocita Shores, Atascocita Villas and Golf Villas, Club Point, Estates of Pinehurst, Island Greens, Kings River Estates and Pines of Atascocita.
The City of Houston describes these partnership agreements as limited-purpose annexations. The city can collect sales tax in the area but not property tax. The city says the revenue is usually split 50/50 with the district, and districts commonly use their share to supplement services, which effectively lowers utility and tax rates. That's the city's general description. MUD 132's exact split isn't in the documents reviewed here, but the district's own books show how much the arrangement carries.
| MUD 132 revenue | Fiscal year ended May 31, 2024 | Fiscal year ended May 31, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Sales tax revenue | $1,801,398 | $1,882,635 |
| Property taxes | $560,439 | $554,084 |
| Charges for services | $3,094,097 | $3,292,942 |
In fiscal 2025, MUD 132 collected about $3.40 in sales tax for every $1 of property tax. Sales tax went up about $81,000 that year while property tax revenue went down slightly. The district's budget for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2027, prepared in June 2026, projects $1,895,000 in Strategic Partnership revenue against $545,000 in maintenance taxes. It assumes a maintenance rate of $0.069 per $100, and it states that the district has no debt or debt service tax. That $0.069 is a budget assumption. The 2026 rate itself hadn't been adopted when the budget was written.
For a buyer, this means MUD 132's low rate rests partly on activity at Atascocita Town Center. Retail sales tax revenue can change over time, and how it holds up affects how much property tax the district needs to collect.
The other end of the range, in Eagle Springs
Harris County MUD 290 sits at the high end. Its 2025 rate was $0.67 per $100: $0.47 for debt service and $0.20 for maintenance and operations. The district names Eagle Springs as part of its community. A 2012 official statement described it as covering Eagle Springs Sections 17 through 44 and 46. That list is historical, not a current boundary certification.
Most of the $0.67 goes to debt service, and that debt is still growing. MUD 290's audit shows bond debt payable of $45.78 million on April 1, 2025, and $51.11 million on March 31, 2026. During that year the district sold $8.83 million in new bonds, including Series 2026 and Series 2026A Park bonds, and paid down $3.5 million in principal. Districts like this borrow to build water, sewer, drainage and parks, and their residents repay the bonds through the debt portion of the rate. MUD 151 has no debt levy at all, and MUD 290 is still issuing bonds.
On the same $400,000 of taxable value, MUD 290's 2025 rate comes to about $2,680 a year. MUD 132's comes to about $275. The difference is $2,404.92 a year before exemptions, for houses that could list at the same price.
Where the rest of Atascocita falls
Every other district documented here falls between those two. All figures are adopted 2025 rates except MUD 46, whose proposed 2026 rate is unchanged from 2025.
| District | Areas named in district or county records | Rate per $100 | Debt portion | MUD tax on $400,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MUD 132 | Pinehurst of Atascocita Secs. 1–4, 7, 9–11; Atascocita Shores; Kings River Estates; Atascocita Town Center | $0.06877 | None | About $275 |
| MUD 152 | Atascocita South; Atasca Woods | $0.24 | $0.165 | $960 |
| MUD 151 | Pinehurst of Atascocita Secs. 5, 6, 8, 12; Kings River Village Secs. 1–13; Kings River Villas | $0.298 | None | About $1,192 |
| MUD 46 | Area between Timber Forest Drive and FM 1960 East | $0.32 proposed for 2026 | Not itemized | $1,280 |
| MUD 109 | Atascocita West and North; Oaks of Atascocita; Atascocita Meadows; Kingwood Glen; Belleau Woods; Kings Lakes Estates; River Grove Secs. 1–6 | $0.435 | $0.20 | $1,740 |
| Trail of the Lakes MUD | Includes at least one Atascocita Forest Section 24 parcel | $0.60 | $0.30 | $2,400 |
| MUD 290 | Eagle Springs | $0.67 | $0.47 | $2,680 |
Kings River shows the same split as Pinehurst. Kings River Estates is in MUD 132 and Kings River Village is in MUD 151. In both cases, a similar name doesn't tell you which district a home is in.
The rest of the bill is mostly settled for 2026
A single Atascocita parcel shows how much of the total the MUD accounts for. The Harris Central Appraisal District's 2025 jurisdiction record for one Atascocita Forest Section 24 property lists these rates per $100:
- Humble ISD, $1.1052
- Harris County, $0.38096
- Harris County Hospital District, $0.18761
- Lone Star College, $0.106
- Harris County ESD 46, $0.10
- Flood Control, $0.04966
- Port of Houston, $0.0059
- Harris County Department of Education, $0.004798
- Trail of the Lakes MUD, $0.60
The total is $2.540128, and the MUD makes up about 24% of it. Keep the other $1.940128 constant and swap in a different district. The total drops to $2.008898 with MUD 132's rate and rises to $2.610128 with MUD 290's. Real addresses can have a different mix of overlapping taxing units, so this is an illustration, not a quote for any one property.
Several of the other rates have already been set for this cycle. Humble ISD trustees kept the district's rate at $1.1052 at their September 8, 2026 meeting, as Community Impact reported. Harris County ESD 46, which provides fire protection and EMS in the area, adopted a 2026 rate of $0.10 on August 17, 2026. The emergency services district and Harris County MUD 46 are separate entities despite sharing the number 46. Some parcels fall in a different school district. Huffman ISD lists a 2025–26 rate of $1.0637, so school district assignment is worth confirming for each parcel too.
With the school and emergency services rates holding steady, the MUD is the main local rate still being decided this fall.
Checking a specific address while 2026 rates are set
Several districts put 2026 rate-setting on their September 2026 agendas. MUD 132 met September 17, MUD 290 met September 11 to set a hearing date, and Trail of the Lakes met September 28 to receive a rate recommendation and call a hearing. MUD 46 has a public hearing on its proposed $0.32 rate scheduled for October 14, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. If you're under contract this month, the rate you look up today may change before your first tax bill.
- Pull the parcel's HCAD jurisdiction record and confirm which MUD, school district and emergency services district apply. Don't rely on the subdivision name.
- Read that district's most recent rate order. Each district files an information form under Section 49.455 of the Texas Water Code listing its latest rate, and MUD 132's order requires an amendment within seven days of any rate change.
- Check how the rate splits between debt service and maintenance. A district still issuing bonds, as MUD 290 did in 2026, has ongoing repayment obligations. A district with no debt levy, like MUD 151 or MUD 132, doesn't.
- For a MUD 132 address, factor in sales tax. The district's budget relies on Strategic Partnership revenue more than three to one over maintenance taxes.
- Check whether the address is inside Houston city limits. MUD 132 serves some homes there, and those parcels may owe a city levy as well.
None of this is tax advice. Exemptions, appraisal values and the 2026 rates still being adopted will all affect any actual bill.
If you're weighing homes on both sides of a MUD boundary in Atascocita, or pricing a home where the district's rate is a selling point, Texas Residential Specialists can build a comparison of the full tax stack for the specific parcels you're considering. Schedule a consultation, or request a complimentary home valuation that includes your district's numbers.
