The Highlands at Trophy Club Assessment Now Has an End Date. What That Changes When You Buy or Sell

In The Highlands at Trophy Club, the first PID document in a sale has a deadline. Texas law requires the seller to give the buyer the public improvement district notice before either side signs a binding contract. If that notice comes late, the buyer may terminate. So the paperwork for Trophy Club Public Improvement District No. 1 belongs at the front of the deal, and the numbers in it need to be current.

Those numbers changed in the past eighteen months. The district's bonds were refinanced in May 2025. A separate emergency-services charge was repealed that September. On September 14, 2026, Town Council voted 6-0, with one member absent, to approve a new annual plan that sets this year's bills. The assessment is now a fixed, shrinking obligation with six annual bills left, and it falls more heavily on some lots than others. Any figure older than this fall should be checked before anyone relies on it.

The Bill Follows the Lot, Not the House

Most of a Texas property tax bill rises and falls with appraised value. The Highlands assessment does not. Each lot is placed in a class by minimum lot size: 12,000, 10,000, 8,400, 7,200, or 3,000 square feet. Each class carries a weight against a base unit, from 1.00 for the largest lots down to 0.44 for the smallest. A remodeled house and an original-condition house on lots of the same class get the same bill.

The 2026 plan sets these installments for Tax Year 2026:

Type 2 is the largest class, with 491 of the plan's 1,360.5 total units, so a $1,864.76 bill is the most common one. A Type 1 lot pays $1,153.21 more per year than a Type 4 lot. Because the charge is fixed by class, it takes a larger share of a modestly priced home's yearly costs than of a higher-priced home on the same size lot. The plan also notes that one Type 3 owner has prepaid half of the assessment lien. That parcel's bill will not match the table, which is a reminder that the schedule is a starting point and each parcel's own bill is what counts.

The district covers about 609 acres in the north and northwest parts of town, roughly 23 percent of Trophy Club's corporate limits. Elsewhere in town, homes at similar prices carry no assessment at all. That gap is why two homes with the same list price can cost different amounts to own.

The 2025 Refunding Shortened the Clock

The original bonds were issued in 2015 in the aggregate principal amount of $26,154,979. In May 2025 the Town refunded all of them with $12,905,000 in Series 2025 bonds. Town staff told the council in September 2025 that the refinancing saved about $4 million over the life of the debt and cut one year off the term.

Earlier Town plans scheduled the last installment for the 2032 tax year. The 2026 plan moves it to the 2031 tax year. This year's installment is billed in 2026 and becomes delinquent on February 1, 2027. Counting the current bill, six annual installments remain, for tax years 2026 through 2031.

A buyer who closes this fall takes on less of this obligation than a buyer did three years ago, and a buyer in 2029 will take on less still. The PID shrinks with every tax year. For a seller, that is a fair point to make when a buyer compares a Highlands home with one outside the district. For a buyer, the PID is a known cost with a known end date, which is easier to plan around than a cost with no end in sight.

A Town flyer from fiscal year 2024 listed installments from $1,280.14 to $2,415.35 a year and said they were set to rise 1.5 percent a year. That schedule came before the refunding. It is useful history, but it is not the current bill.

The Fire Charge Moved to the MUD

The September 2025 council meeting changed a second part of the bill. The Town and Trophy Club Municipal Utility District No. 1 agreed to expand the MUD's boundaries to take in the PID area. Starting with that tax cycle, Highlands owners pay for fire and emergency services through the MUD, the same way other Trophy Club residents do. Council found that the separate emergency-services assessment no longer provided a special benefit to the property and repealed it.

So a Highlands parcel now carries the fixed infrastructure installment plus the MUD tax rate, which includes a fire component. The Town's PID FAQ and the FY24 flyer still describe the emergency-services charge, which can confuse a buyer who reads them during the option period. Under the MUD's adopted fiscal year 2027 budget, the total MUD rate is $0.07803 per $100 of value: $0.06363 for fire maintenance and operations, $0.00637 for district maintenance and operations, and $0.00803 for debt service. The Town's own rate for fiscal year 2027, under the budget ordinance passed August 24, 2026, is $0.412864 per $100. County and school district rates come on top of both.

Watch one inconsistency in particular. The MUD's Notice to Purchaser, effective October 1, 2026, gives the district's current rate as $0.06814 per $100. The adopted FY2027 budget says $0.07803. Buyers comparing carrying costs should confirm the rate in effect with the MUD and their title company rather than relying on the notice alone.

Where the Friction Shows Up in a Sale

Texas Property Code Section 5.014, as amended by HB 1543, covers sales of property in PIDs created under Chapter 372, which is the authority the Highlands district uses. The amended rules apply to contracts signed on or after September 1, 2021. In a Highlands sale, the statute plays out in this order:

1. Before the contract. The seller delivers the prescribed PID notice, and the buyer signs it or signs a contract that contains it. The standard form points buyers to the municipality for the exact assessment and annual installment. Sellers may add the amount and the payment schedule. Attaching the September 2026 per-lot figure answers the first question most buyers ask.
2. If the notice is late. The buyer may terminate the contract. If the seller provides notice at or before closing and the buyer chooses to close, the buyer gives up that termination right and the statutory damage remedies. Where notice was not given as required, the statute provides damage remedies, including one capped at $5,000 plus attorney's fees.
3. At closing. Seller and buyer sign a separate notice with current information, acknowledge it, and record it in the county deed records.
4. For the current bill. The 2026 installment is billed this year and becomes delinquent February 1, 2027. A closing between now and then will need a clear answer on how that bill is handled. Your title company is the right place to get it.

The notice also warns that installments can vary, and that nonpayment can bring penalties, interest, a lien, and foreclosure. Those warnings are standard statutory language that appears on every PID notice. They are not a sign of trouble with a particular house.

Paying It Off Is an Option

An owner may pay off the assessment in full at any time. The Town directs payoff requests to DTA, the district's administrator. The 2026 plan does not publish a payoff balance for each lot type, so nobody should estimate one from the annual figure. Request a payoff quote for the specific parcel. A seller deciding whether to pay off before listing, or a buyer negotiating a payoff as part of the deal, needs that actual figure. Whether paying off makes sense for you is a question for your own financial advisor.

Common Questions

Does a bigger or newer house mean a bigger PID bill? No. The installment depends on lot type, set by minimum lot size, and not on the home's appraised value or square footage.

When does the Highlands assessment end? The September 14, 2026 plan schedules the last installment for the 2031 tax year, after the May 2025 refunding shortened the term by a year.

Do Highlands owners still pay a separate emergency-services assessment? No. Council repealed it in September 2025, and fire service is now funded through Trophy Club MUD No. 1 taxes.

Which MUD rate should a buyer use? The MUD's adopted FY2027 budget shows $0.07803 per $100. The purchaser notice effective October 1, 2026 shows $0.06814. Confirm the rate in effect with the MUD and your title company before relying on either figure.

If you are listing in The Highlands, the PID notice, the current lot-type installment, and a DTA payoff quote can all be ready before the first showing. That way the six remaining installments are clear from the start instead of turning up during the option period. Sherri Murphy-Bort and The Ultimate Real Estate Group can put that package together with your title company. Let's Connect.