The Township
Is The Woodlands a City? The Township, the 2021 Vote and Which Addresses Pay City Tax
Updated September 2026
Bottom line: No. The Woodlands is governed by The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district, and voters turned down incorporation on November 2, 2021. Most addresses pay no city tax; Windsor Lakes pays Conroe's and part of Grogan's Forest pays Shenandoah's.
What kind of government runs The Woodlands?
The Woodlands Township, which describes itself as a special-purpose local government and, in its letter on the covenant lien, as a political subdivision of the State of Texas. A publicly elected board of directors governs it, and it is funded by property taxes and sales tax revenue. By the Township's own account, homeowner associations and special-purpose districts delivered its services until 2010, when the Township was created to centralize them.
Its departments include The Woodlands Fire Department, parks and recreation and covenant administration, and it contracts for trash and recycling collection. Its property tax rate was $0.1714 per $100 of value for 2025, and the board adopted $0.1694 for 2026 on September 3, 2026, the maintenance and operations part of it by a 6 to 1 vote.
What happened in the 2021 vote on becoming a city?
Voters turned it down. On November 2, 2021, Proposition A, which would have authorized incorporation and a maximum initial tax rate, drew 7,932 votes for and 16,431 against, 67.44% opposed, in the revised unofficial totals for both counties. Proposition B, which would have transferred the Township's rights and powers to the new city, drew 8,031 for and 16,283 against. Community Impact noted that all results were unofficial until canvassed.
The proposed city's initial property tax rate would have been no more than $0.2231 per $100 of value, Houston Public Media reported. The Township had conducted an incorporation study before the vote, and its governance records say residents chose to remain under the current structure as a special-purpose district.
Who provides the services a city usually would?
They are split among several governments. The Township's page on law enforcement says it is a county responsibility: the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is the primary agency for the Montgomery County villages, the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4, serves Creekside Park, and the Township pays for additional personnel and patrols from both. The county commissioners' precincts maintain the roads and bridges, and the county, not the Township, sprays for mosquitoes.
Water and sewer come from municipal utility districts, local districts that fund water, sewer and drainage through their fees and a property tax. Drainage has no single owner either: the Township's own 2016 summary for its board says authority and funding for drainage in The Woodlands sit primarily with the utility districts, the counties and the San Jacinto River Authority. The Township runs the fire department.
Who sets the building rules without a city?
The covenants. The Township says that as a special-purpose district it does not adopt ordinances or operate a traditional building department; instead, its covenants and standards govern what can be built and changed on a lot, and its covenant administration department reviews applications and issues permits. Construction still has to meet the building code, which the Township's Residential Development Standards say prevails where the two conflict.
Can Houston or Conroe annex The Woodlands?
Not for now. In 2007 the Township signed regional participation agreements with Houston and Conroe under which neither city will annex any part of it for 50 years while the agreements stay in effect, according to a 2018 memorandum from the Township's outside counsel. Community Impact reported in 2021 that the Township's immunity from annexation by those cities runs until 2057.
In 2017 the Legislature changed the state's annexation law so that cities like Houston and Conroe generally need the consent of the owners in an area, usually by an election. The same memorandum concluded that the risk of a forced annexation had been reduced but not eliminated, because a city could argue that the 2007 agreements set the terms for annexation after 2057.
Does any Woodlands address pay a city property tax?
A few do. The developer's tax sheet says Windsor Lakes is part of the City of Conroe and pays Conroe's city tax, $0.4272 per $100 on that sheet, instead of a utility district tax and the Township tax. It also lists a part of Grogan's Forest east of Grogan's Mill Road that pays the City of Shenandoah's tax, $0.1421, and an emergency services district tax, again in place of a utility district tax and the Township tax. The sheet's rates are the ones set in 2024.
The Township separately names three Grogan's Forest neighborhoods, Cantwell Forest, Avalon Oaks and Dulcimer Woods, as under the dual authority of the Township and the City of Shenandoah, where some improvements are applied for at Shenandoah's city hall. Everywhere else, no city taxes the property. The list of taxing units on a parcel's appraisal district account settles it for one address.
What is still unsettled about the city question?
Two things this page cannot answer. The canvassed 2021 totals were not read here, so the vote counts above are the revised unofficial ones Community Impact published the morning after. And whether Houston or Conroe could annex any of The Woodlands after 2057 without the owners' consent is an open legal question that the Township's own counsel declined to call settled.
Questions & answers
The Woodlands questions, answered
Is The Woodlands a city or a township?
The Woodlands is governed by The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district with an elected board of directors, and there is no City of The Woodlands. Voters turned down incorporating it as a city on November 2, 2021. The Township levies its own property tax, $0.1694 per $100 of value for 2026, and a sales tax.
The Township runs the fire department, the parks, contracted trash collection and the covenants that govern building on every lot. Montgomery and Harris counties handle law enforcement and roads, with the Township paying for extra deputies and patrols, and municipal utility districts provide water, sewer and drainage. Because there is no city government, most Woodlands addresses pay no city property tax at all.
Did The Woodlands vote to become a city?
No. On November 2, 2021, voters in The Woodlands rejected Proposition A, which would have authorized incorporation, by 16,431 votes to 7,932 in the revised unofficial totals Community Impact reported, 67.44% against. Proposition B, which would have moved the Township's powers to a new city, failed by a similar margin.
Houston Public Media reported that the proposed city's initial property tax rate would have been no more than $0.2231 per $100 of value. The Township had conducted an incorporation study before the election, and its governance records say residents chose to keep the special-purpose district. The counts above are the unofficial ones published the morning after the vote; the canvassed totals were not read for this page.
What does The Woodlands Township do?
The Woodlands Township runs The Woodlands Fire Department, parks and recreation and the covenants that govern building on every lot, contracts for trash and recycling collection, and pays for law enforcement beyond what the counties provide. It is funded by property and sales taxes. The counties maintain the roads, and utility districts supply water and sewer.
The Township's page on law enforcement calls it a county responsibility and says the Township funds additional personnel and patrols from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4. Drainage is shared too: a 2016 summary for the Township board put authority for it primarily with the utility districts, the counties and the San Jacinto River Authority. The Township also runs visitor marketing and environmental programs.
Can Houston annex The Woodlands?
Not while its 2007 agreements hold. The Woodlands Township's regional participation agreements with Houston and Conroe defer annexation of any part of the Township for 50 years, and since 2017 Texas law has generally required the owners' consent, usually by election, before a city like Houston or Conroe can annex an area.
A 2018 memorandum from the Township's outside counsel concluded that the risk of forced annexation had been reduced but not eliminated. It noted an argument that the 2007 agreements, signed under the older law, set the terms for annexation after 2057 and could stand in for the owners' consent. No court or attorney general's opinion had settled the point when the memorandum was written.
Do I pay city taxes if I live in The Woodlands?
In most of The Woodlands, no. No city levies a property tax across the community. The exceptions on the developer's tax sheet are Windsor Lakes, which is part of the City of Conroe and pays Conroe's tax, and a part of Grogan's Forest east of Grogan's Mill Road that pays the City of Shenandoah's tax instead of the Township and utility district taxes.
Every other Woodlands home pays The Woodlands Township's tax, $0.1714 per $100 for 2025, along with the county, the school district and a utility district. The Township also shares authority over three Grogan's Forest neighborhoods, Cantwell Forest, Avalon Oaks and Dulcimer Woods, with the City of Shenandoah for some improvements. To confirm one address, read the list of taxing units on its appraisal district account.