The rollback rule has changed in Gillespie County.
If you're buying ag-exempt or wildlife-exempt land in Gillespie County, understanding the current rollback rule is worth more to you than most of the acreage math in the contract.
The Rollback Rule in Gillespie County
The rollback tax is what a county recaptures when land under an agricultural or wildlife management valuation stops qualifying, whether because a buyer builds a homesite, subdivides, or simply lets the qualifying use lapse.
House Bill 1743 changed the rollback rule. House Bill 3833, effective June 15, 2021, went further and removed the interest charge entirely for open-space and timber land. As of today, a change of use triggers three years of recaptured taxes and nothing more. No interest at all.
| Period | Lookback | Interest |
|---|---|---|
| June 15, 2021 to present | 3 years | 0% |
The Texas Comptroller's own guidance confirms the current version: a three-year lookback. Together with the no-interest rule described above, that lookback defines the current calculation. On a large Gillespie County tract with a wide gap between market value and productivity value, that difference between the old math and the current math can run into tens of thousands of dollars, money that never actually comes due.
A Property's Qualification History Matters
The rollback rule is only one part of the tax picture; a property's qualification history matters too.
If the seller had already let the exemption lapse before you closed, the timeline works against you differently. Texas Land Tax says most counties, including Gillespie, want to see agricultural use for five of the preceding seven years before granting full valuation to a new applicant.
The Well Question That Doesn't Show Up on the Survey
Water in Gillespie County runs through a separate layer of paperwork that has nothing to do with the appraisal district. Every well in the county, regardless of use, has to be registered with the Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District. The Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District says wells used for irrigation, commercial operations, or public water supply need an actual permit, and that permit comes with spacing requirements and production limits set by the District's board.
This distinction rarely shows up in a standard survey or title commitment. A buyer planning a small vineyard, a commercial event venue, or even landscape irrigation needs to confirm well status with the District before assuming the existing well covers that use.
Why Some Tracts Carry a Lower Ceiling
Not all groundwater in Gillespie County is treated the same way, and the difference is geographic, not just regulatory. In 2006, the Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District designated two High Historical Groundwater Use Areas, HHUA I and HHUA II, covering parts of the county where decades of pumping, some dating back to the 1940s in the City of Fredericksburg's case, had already drawn the aquifer down.
A more restrictive layer sits inside part of HHUA I: the Ellenburger Critical Groundwater Depletion Area 1, or ECGDA 1, a designation Gillespie County formally recognizes on its website. The Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District sets a hard annual production cap of half an acre-foot per acre of service area for wells located in the HHUA, its buffer zone, or ECGDA 1. That's not a guideline. It's the ceiling.
This isn't an abstract rule sitting in a management plan somewhere. The Pedernales River Alliance, a local watershed group, has written up one recent case where a planned development on property inside ECGDA 1 went through a public hearing under the District's rules and received a permit for about 8.3 million gallons a year from two wells. The same write-up notes that four planned swimming and recreation areas would need roughly 119,641 gallons to fill. Those figures show the scale of water use that permitted projects in the area are working with. The same group, citing figures from the Gillespie County Economic Development Commission, counts more than 7,500 new lots or units proposed or under construction across the county. Growth and groundwater limits are running on the same clock, and a buyer who assumes "there's a well on the property" answers the water question hasn't actually answered it if that parcel sits inside ECGDA 1.
Before You Write the Offer
A few questions answer most of what matters here, and they're worth asking directly rather than assuming the listing covers them:
- Request the property's appraisal history from the Gillespie Central Appraisal District. Confirm how many consecutive years it has carried an active 1-d-1 valuation, not just whether it's currently exempt.
- Ask what specific agricultural or wildlife management activity is producing that valuation, and whether it's continuing uninterrupted through closing.
- Check the property's well registration status with the Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District, and ask specifically whether any well on the tract falls inside HHUA I, HHUA II, or ECGDA 1.
- If a change of use is part of your plan, run the three-year, no-interest rollback math yourself rather than relying on outdated figures.
- Address who pays the rollback if it's triggered.
None of these questions slow down a deal that's already clean. They just make sure you're not the one who inherits a surprise that started before you owned the property.
A Few Direct Questions
How do I find out if a well needs a permit? Contact the Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District directly.
Ag exemptions, rollback math, and groundwater caps are exactly the kind of detail that separates a smooth Gillespie County closing from one that generates a call to the appraisal district six months later. Topper Real Estate works these questions into every ranch and land transaction from the first showing, not the final walkthrough. If you're evaluating acreage in Gillespie County, schedule your Hill Country consultation before you write the offer, not after.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
