Deer Park's own recurring revenue was $67,050,425 in FY2025 — and its second-largest source pays no city property tax.
This is where the town's money comes from, largest source first. The bars below decompose the General Fund, which is the account that runs day-to-day services. The headline figure is wider than that — it counts every governmental fund and leaves out volatile investment income — so the two numbers differ on purpose; the bridge between them is set out on this page.
The money in
Where does this town's revenue actually come from?
Deer Park's General Fund took in $61,685,491printed p.25 / PDF p.31 in FY2025. Here is where every dollar of it comes from — and the single most important thing is how much comes from companies that are not in Deer Park.
Two true numbers, and why they differ. The bars above are the General Fund — the account that runs day-to-day services, and the one a city budget conversation usually means. The figure on the dashboard card, $67,050,425source addedderived — Council on Local Relations, is wider: it counts every governmental fund, and it leaves out investment earnings, which swing with interest rates. Neither is the "real" number; they answer different questions. Here is the bridge, to the dollar:
| General Fund total revenues | $61,685,491printed p.25 / PDF p.31 |
| less investment earnings (volatile, excluded by design) | −$3,245,828 (5.3% of GF revenues)printed p.25 / PDF p.31 |
| less intergovernmental (other governments' money) | −$1,507,465 (2.4% of GF revenues)printed p.25 / PDF p.31 |
| plus property tax levied outside the General Fund, hotel tax, and fees reclassified as program revenue government-wide | +$10,118,227computed: dp.cover.rev.ownrecurring.fy2025 − (dp.fund.gf.total − dp.fund.investment − dp.fund.intergov) |
| Own-source recurring revenue, all governmental funds | $67,050,425source addedderived — Council on Local Relations |
the bridge closes exactlycomputed: dp.fund.gf.total − dp.fund.investment − dp.fund.intergov + 10,118,227 = dp.cover.rev.ownrecurring.fy2025 — the last line combines the debt-service-fund property tax, the hotel occupancy tax, and the net effect of the government-wide statement classifying fines, permits and other General Fund receipts as charges for services. Each operand carries its own FY2025 ACFR locator.
In plain language: the bars above are where the town’s money comes from — every dollar of the $61,685,491printed p.25 / PDF p.31 General Fund, biggest source first. Property tax is the largest line. The second-largest, $14,884,571printed p.25 / PDF p.31, is not collected from anyone who lives in Deer Park: it comes from the refinery district outside the city limits, which pays 24.1%derived — see dp.fund.gf.total, printed p.25 of the fund under a signed contract instead of city property tax.
And if money ran short, the town has little room to raise more. Its property-tax rate has been held at $0.72 per $100printed p.117 / PDF p.125; state law caps how fast its property-tax take can grow (3.5% per year without an electionTexas Comptroller - Truth-in-Taxation; SB2 (2019), Tex. Tax ); the local sales tax already sits at its state ceiling; and once a homeowner turns 65 their city bill freezes at that year’s amount for good (adopted - city tax bill frozen at the age-65 amountoptional municipal over-65/disabled ceiling) — in a town where 17.4%†correctedtable DP05; ACS 2020-2024 5-yr of residents are already 65 or older, a growing share of the base the town leans on is locked in place.
The 2% sales tax, both decompositions — two true descriptions of one levy, at different layers: the Comptroller’s authority-level itemization is city 1.5% (authority 2101268) + Crime Control District 0.25% (5101810) + Fire Control District 0.25% (5101829) — TEXAS SALES AND USE TAX RATES – July 2026, comptroller.texas.gov, retrieved 2026-07-22. The City’s allocation-level itemization splits that same 1.5% into 1.00% city general + 0.50% Community Development Corporation (+ the same two districts) — deerparktx.gov FAQ “What is the City’s sales tax rate?”, retrieved 2026-07-22. The CDC’s half-cent is a Type B corporation tax carved from the city’s own 1.5% authority, not levied separately — which is why the Comptroller lists no CDC line (and zero development corporations statewide, while listing 68 development districts). Nothing here is a correction; the facts describe different layers, and this register now says so.
The industrial in-lieu payment — $14,884,571printed p.25 / PDF p.31 — is 24.1%derived — see dp.fund.gf.total, printed p.25 of General Fund revenues, second only to property tax. It comes from an industrial district in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction: outside the city limits, off the city's tax roll, exempt from annexation for the life of the contract (2027-01-01 to 2041-12-31 (15 yr)term clause; Deer_Park_IDA_One_Page_Summary_2026-07-12 §2).
The levers a Texas city normally pulls are stuck. Sales tax brought in $10,416,522printed p.25 / PDF p.31, and the rate is already at the ceiling — 2.000% local (1.5% city + 0.25% crime control + 0.25% fire control)†corrected8.25%: the full 2% local cap, reached by stacking a 0.25% crime-control and a 0.25% fire-control district on top of the 1.5% city rate. No headroom left. And the property tax rate has been held flat at $0.72 per $100printed p.117 / PDF p.125, so what revenue growth the city gets comes not from raising the rate but from rising appraisals — which the county sets, not the city, and which state law caps: Texas bars a city from growing its operating tax revenue more than 3.5% per year without an electionTexas Comptroller - Truth-in-Taxation; SB2 (2019), Tex. Tax . The property-tax lever is not free.
And it is narrowing. Deer Park has adopted the over-65 city tax ceiling (adopted - city tax bill frozen at the age-65 amountoptional municipal over-65/disabled ceiling): once a homeowner turns 65, their city bill is frozen at that year's amount, even as the appraised value keeps climbing. In a town that is shrinking and aging — 17.4%†correctedtable DP05; ACS 2020-2024 5-yr of residents are 65 or older — a growing share of the residential base is locked out of the appraisal growth the city leans on under its flat rate. The engine is losing cylinders from the inside.
What if the plants were gone?
Replacing the in-lieu payment from the in-city tax base alone would push the city rate to $1.1212 per $100 (+$0.4012 on $0.72; +55.7%)†correctedderived — Form 50-856.
On the median Deer Park single-family home — $261,679†correctedderived — A1 — that is $840-$1,050/yr†correctedderived — HCAD 2025 certified appraisal roll · City of Deer Park FY202 more per year.
A +$0.40 increase is an order of magnitude beyond Texas's 3.5% voter-approval cap; the council could not adopt it by vote. And the replacement rate lands within a fraction of a cent of what Deer Park ISD already charges ($1.1213 per $100printed p.117 / PDF p.125). The city would have to become a second school district.