In Marble Falls New Construction, the Phase on the Plat Sets a Bill the Price Tag Never Shows

The City of Marble Falls keeps a spreadsheet that most new-construction shoppers never open. In the Thunder Rock assessment roll for installments due January 31, 2026, a 50-foot lot in Improvement Area #1 owes $1,617.27 for the year. A 50-foot lot in Improvement Area #2A, the same width in the same community, owes $2,832.64, plus another $191.60 to the Major Improvement Area. The lots are the same width, but the second one pays roughly $3,024 a year and the first about $1,617.

Those charges are Public Improvement District assessments. The Texas Local Government Code says the city levies them on top of regular property taxes, and they come with a lien. The phase a home sits in decides how much its owner pays. Lot width, finishes and the builder's price sheet don't. For anyone comparing a Marble Falls new build against a resale, that phase line can matter as much as the sticker price.

The Notice Comes Before the Contract, and It Doesn't Have to Include a Dollar Figure

Texas House Bill 1543 requires a seller to give a buyer written notice about a PID "before the execution of a binding contract of purchase and sale." The notice can come as a separate document or as a paragraph or addendum in the contract. The statutory notice includes this language:

"AN ASSESSMENT HAS BEEN LEVIED AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY FOR THE AUTHORIZED IMPROVEMENTS, WHICH MAY BE PAID IN FULL AT ANY TIME."

The required form sends buyers to the city or county for the exact assessment and installment amounts. A seller may add the amount and payment schedule but doesn't have to. So a buyer can sign the paperwork the law requires and still not know whether their lot owes $1,000 a year or $3,000.

The standard Texas resale contract, TREC Form 20-19, covers this in Paragraph 6E(7): "If the Property is in a public improvement district, Seller must give Buyer written notice as required by §5.014, Property Code." TREC also publishes a separate Addendum Containing Notice of Obligation to Pay Improvement District Assessment, Form 53-0. If a contract is signed without the notice, the buyer is entitled to terminate. If the notice arrives at or before closing and the buyer closes anyway, the law presumes the buyer waived that right.

That makes the stretch before an offer the useful time to look up the roll entry. Once the deal closes, the statute treats the buyer as having accepted the notice.

What the City's Rolls Show, Lot by Lot

Both of Marble Falls' large master-planned communities have city PID assessments: Thunder Rock, developed by Centurion American, and Gregg Ranch, developed by Harvard Investments. The council approved the 2026 annual updates for both on August 4, 2026. The per-lot figures in those 2026 rolls weren't available in the public record we reviewed. The numbers below come from the 2025 rolls, which set the installments billed for January 31, 2026. The Gregg Ranch figures are also shown in the Gregg Ranch Public Improvement District 2025 Annual Service Plan Update.

The Gregg Ranch figures are tied to real addresses. 205 Jasmine Lane and the Slenderleaf Drive lots appear as Lot Type 1. The Fiddleneck Road lots appear as Lot Type 2, and the Verbena Drive lots as Lot Type 3. That first neighborhood area comes from the Gregg Ranch at Marble Falls Phase One plat, recorded August 25, 2020, with 155 residential lots.

Across both communities, these 2025-roll installments run from about $1,028 to just over $3,000 a year. The biggest gap sits between two Thunder Rock 50-foot lots in different phases.

How Phase II Buyers Compare

Thunder Rock moved into Phase II in September 2025. D.R. Horton and Lennar opened model homes on Thunder Rock Boulevard and Standing Rock Lane for 214 homes on 50-foot lots, with starting prices advertised in the low $290,000s. Phase II is a builder phase name, and Improvement Area #2A is a PID billing area. The rolls don't map one onto the other, so a buyer should confirm a specific lot's improvement area on the roll before assuming its bill.

For a 50-foot lot in Improvement Area #2A, the two lines add up to $3,024.24 for the year, or about $252 a month. A 50-foot Improvement Area #1 lot pays about $135 a month. The outstanding balances differ by a similar ratio: roughly $35,104 against $22,358.

Now compare that with the city's own property tax. On September 15, 2026, the Marble Falls City Council adopted a rate of $0.5800 per $100 of value, up from $0.5350. That's about 8.41 percent, the city's largest rate jump since at least 2010. The city puts this year's median home at $391,602 and estimates that home's city tax bill at $2,271. A 50-foot Improvement Area #2A lot's PID installment is larger than the city's entire tax bill on a more expensive median home.

Here is an illustration only. On a $300,000 home, $3,024 a year works out to about $1.01 per $100 of value. Marble Falls ISD's adopted 2026 rate is $0.8805. At that price, the assessment works like a rate larger than the school district's. And it's charged on top of the school, city and county taxes, not instead of them.

Why Property Tax Comparisons Miss It

Portal tax estimates and broad comparisons usually start from ad valorem rates. A PID assessment works differently. Texas law says the city levies it "as a special assessment on the property." It's a "first and prior lien" that "runs with the land." Delinquent installments pick up interest, penalties and attorney's fees the same way unpaid property taxes do.

It's also tied to the lot, not to an appraised value. The rolls list a fixed dollar amount for each lot type. When Marble Falls' taxable value fell 3.6 percent this year, from about $1.660 billion to $1.601 billion, the city raised its rate to make up the difference. A PID installment follows its bond schedule instead. According to Thunder Rock's 2022 service and assessment plan, the schedules for Improvement Area #1 and the Major Improvement Area run through 2051. The 2025 projections show Improvement Area #2A's total yearly installment almost flat, at $764,811.86 for 2026 and $765,043.75 for 2027.

That matters when comparing a new build with a resale. In August 2026, the Highland Lakes Association of Realtors reported a $365,000 median sale price for Burnet County as a whole, down 10.4 percent from a year earlier, with 9.6 months of inventory. Those are county figures, not Marble Falls alone. With that much supply, a resale owner outside a PID and a builder in a newer phase are competing on monthly cost as well as price. A buyer has to add the PID installment to the new build's payment to compare them fairly.

Paying the Assessment Off

The notice language about paying "in full at any time" has a basis in statute. Local Government Code §372.018(f) says an owner "may pay at any time all or any part of the assessment, with interest that has accrued on the assessment, on any lot or parcel." The outstanding assessment column in the table is the balance listed on the 2025 roll, not the original lien amount. Prepayment terms are set in each district's service and assessment plan, and the city or the PID administrator can quote a current payoff. P3 Works is listed as the Gregg Ranch PID administrator. Whether paying off early makes sense for a particular buyer is a question for that buyer's financial or tax advisor.

Lookups are getting easier. Senate Bill 1106 took effect January 1, 2026. It requires PID assessment rolls to be loaded into the appraisal district's property tax database, showing each district's name and the property's total and annual assessments.

Before writing an offer on a Thunder Rock or Gregg Ranch home, it helps to check:

1. The lot's improvement area and lot type on the city's most recent assessment roll.
2. Whether the lot appears on more than one roll, as the Improvement Area #2A lots do with the Major Improvement Area.
3. The current installment and the outstanding balance.
4. That the §5.014 notice or TREC Form 53-0 is part of the paperwork before signing.

What the PID Pays For

Assessments fund each district's authorized improvements, and some of those are still being finished. Thunder Rock's plan includes a 26-acre city-owned sportsplex, a 10-acre recreation center, more than 204,000 square feet of future commercial space, and hike-and-bike trails along Flatrock Creek. As of an August 20, 2026 city release, the sportsplex at 1000 Flatrock Boulevard stays closed until the developer finishes the remaining work and the city formally accepts the facility. City legal counsel is working to resolve the outstanding issues without added cost to taxpayers.

Quick Answers

Does every home in Thunder Rock owe the same PID amount? No. In the 2025 rolls, installments ranged from $1,293.81 for a 40-foot Improvement Area #1 lot to about $3,024 for a 50-foot lot in Improvement Area #2A, counting its Major Improvement Area line.

Are the 2026 figures different? The council adopted the 2026 updates on August 4, 2026. The per-lot amounts weren't in the public record we reviewed, so ask the city for the current roll entry.

Does the PID go away when a home sells? No. The lien runs with the land, so the next owner takes it on.

If you're weighing a Thunder Rock or Gregg Ranch home against a resale, I'll look up the lot's line on the city's assessment roll and lay the yearly cost next to the comparable homes before you make an offer. Selling the Hill Country with Kayla can also tell sellers how a nearby PID changes what buyers compare their home against. Schedule a free consultation & home valuation, and we'll start with the roll.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.