Freestone County property owners should be receiving their Property Tax bills in the mail, as they were mailed earlier this month.
Tax bills are due upon receipt and become delinquent on February 1, 2026. At that point, they incur a 6% penalty plus 1% interest, for a total of 7%.
Thereafter, penalty and interest accrue monthly at 1% each, totaling 2%, until July 1, 2026, when a 20% attorney fee is attached. Then the tax accrues at 1% interest per month until paid.
Delinquent Tax Attorneys work for the taxing jurisdictions, and they make decisions on tax suits and foreclosures.
The October mailing of Property Tax bills marks the end of a yearly cycle that begins with the local appraisal district.
How It Works
According to Chief Appraiser, Don Awalt, Freestone County Central Appraisal District mailed out Notices of Appraised Value for 2025 back in April and the deadline to contest those values was in May. “The Review Board has already heard and ruled on the protests that were filed for 2025,” he said. Values were approved mid-July and then certified to the Tax Assessor and Tax Jurisdictions that same month.
Each year, notices are mailed between April 1 and May 1. Property owners then have 30 days from the date of the notice to protest those values. Protest hearings are scheduled with the Appraisal Review Board (ARB), who consider both the property owners’ evidence and the Appraisal District’s evidence, and then render a determination. If a property owner is dissatisfied with the ARB’s determination, they then have 60 days to file for Binding Arbitration or to appeal the determination to the District Court.
Once Freestone County Tax Assessor-Collector, Dan Ralstin, receives the certified tax values for the 13 taxing jurisdictions, he then calculates several various tax rates that fluctuate yearly.
“The calculations are a complex process using data from various sources and applying state law,” says Ralstin. “Once completed, I send my calculations to the respective taxing jurisdictions as guidelines for what rates they can legally adopt. From there it is the taxing jurisdictions decisions on what rate is adopted.”
Tax rates include:
–No-New-Revenue Tax Rate – a rate that would produce the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both years.
–Voter-Approval Tax Rate – the maximum rate allowed by law without voter approval.
Each taxing entity (city, school, hospital district) will set their budget, determine the tax rate needed to meet their budgeting needs, hold public hearings, and finally adopt their tax rate – typically before the end of September.
If any entity sets a rate above the Voter-Approval tax rate, an election is called.
Paying the Bill
The second phase of assessing duties involves the gathering of their adopted rates and applying them to their taxable values to levy a tax and creating a tax bill.
Once this second phase is complete, the new property tax bills are mailed to property owners.
Property owners should know that partial payments are accepted for payment of taxes, so long as it is paid in full by the due date.
In order to protect your financial information, the tax office will NOT accept over-the-phone credit card transactions. Please visit www.freestonetax.org to pay taxes online with a credit card or electronic check (additional fees apply).
People who are over the age of 65 years, disabled, or qualify for a disabled veteran exemption have the option to pay their HOMESTEAD taxes in quarterly payments, with no penalties, if paid timely. This option must be set up with the Tax Office prior to February 1, 2026. This option DOES NOT automatically renew each year. You MUST set up quarterly payments EVERY year.
For more information on property taxes or your tax bill, please contact Freestone County Tax office at 903-389-2336. Their office is located at 305 W. Commerce Street in Fairfield.
