On May 14, Attorney General Ken Paxton sent out a press release naming 130 Texas cities who were out of compliance with SB 1851, of which Wimberley was one. During the 2025 legislative session, SB 1851 was passed and enacted into law. The law bars cities from raising property taxes above the new rate if they do not meet Texas’s financial statement audit and transparency requirements.
According to the press release, Paxton demanded documents in April from over 1,000 municipalities to determine statewide compliance with SB 1851. That led to the identification of over 130 cities that failed to comply with the statutory requirements for the new fiscal year.
When asked about the city’s inclusion in the list, Mayor Jim Chiles said, “Because Wimberley is one of only three cities in Texas that does not levy an ad valorem, or property, tax, our auditors — Neffendorf & Blocker, PC — prioritized completing audits for their other municipal clients who required finalized reports in order to set their 2026 tax rates. Once those statutory deadlines were met, they finalized Wimberley’s audit.”
