Water Wells

You can look up water well records before buying rural land

Texas keeps a public database of water well records; you can search wells by location before buying land to understand what neighbors have found and at what depth.

Taylor County Home & Property

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) maintains a statewide database of water well drilling reports. If you are buying rural land in Taylor County and plan to drill a well, you can look up records from nearby wells to see how deep they go and what the water quality looked like. Well logs filed since 2003 are in the online database.

Taylor County is in semi-arid West Texas with an average of about 23 inches of rain per year. Groundwater depth and quality can vary by location. Before drilling, check the TWDB Groundwater Data Viewer (for wells drilled since 2003) or the TCEQ Water Well Report Viewer (for older wells) and talk to a licensed water well driller. Private drinking water wells in Texas do not require a TCEQ permit, but the driller must be licensed and must file a report after drilling.

Source to confirm: TWDB — Locating a Water Well Report

More Taylor County notes

Property Tax Basics

Two offices handle property taxes here

Taylor County has both an appraisal district and a tax assessor-collector, but the county tax office does not collect property taxes — the appraisal district handles collection for most taxing units.

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Homestead Exemption

Homestead exemption cuts your school tax bill

Texas law requires every school district to exempt $140,000 of your home's value from taxation, but you must apply through the Taylor County Appraisal District to get the benefit.

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Agricultural Valuation

Farm and ranch land can be taxed on productivity, not market value

Texas allows agricultural land to be appraised on what it can produce rather than what it could sell for, which usually means a much lower tax bill.

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Tax Bill Breakdown

Multiple taxing units appear on your property tax bill

Your Taylor County property tax bill can include charges from up to 18 different taxing units — the county, a school district, and possibly a city or water district.

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