You found a home you love in Lake Highlands, but there’s a PID on the tax record. Will that change your monthly mortgage payment? You’re not alone for asking. PIDs are common across Dallas, and understanding how they are billed can save you surprises later. In this guide, you’ll learn what a PID is, how it shows up on your bill, how lenders treat it, and what it could mean for your payment and closing. Let’s dive in.
A Public Improvement District is a defined area where property owners fund extra services or improvements through a special assessment. In Texas, cities and counties create PIDs under state law, which sets how assessments can be levied and paid over time. You can review the legal framework in the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 372, which governs formation, service plans and assessments under Chapter 372.
The City of Dallas operates several PIDs to fund things like additional security, landscaping, street cleaning and pedestrian amenities. You can learn how they work and confirm PID boundaries on the City’s Public Improvement Districts program page. In Lake Highlands, there are two related districts, the Lake Highlands PID and the North Lake Highlands PID, each guided by an annual service plan approved by City Council. The City’s Lake Highlands PID page lists boundaries, purpose and term dates.
Under Texas law, a city can levy PID assessments as one-time or annual charges, and it may allow installments or set them up to retire improvement debt. The exact method and schedule come from the district’s service plan and city ordinances, as described in Chapter 372.
In practice, many Dallas PIDs have their assessments collected through Dallas County. That means the PID commonly appears as a separate line on your county property tax statement. You can see how the county lists taxing entities and PID lines on the Dallas County Tax Office page. Always check the current year’s tax statement and the district’s service plan to confirm billing and any prepayment options.
The short answer is: it can. It depends on how the PID is billed and whether your loan uses an escrow account.
Many loans collect property taxes and other required charges through escrow. When a PID is billed with property taxes, your servicer typically adds the PID amount to your escrow analysis, which increases the escrow portion of your monthly payment. Federal servicing rules describe how escrow accounts work and what they can cover in Regulation X, section 1024.17. Agency guides also show how lenders manage escrow items like special assessments in their escrow accounts policy.
Your principal and interest payment will not change, but you will receive separate bills for taxes and assessments. Your total monthly cash flow still goes up when the PID is due, so you should plan for those payments even if they are not included in your mortgage check.
Lenders must identify and handle special assessments during underwriting and at closing. If a PID is structured as a long-term installment, many lenders treat a monthly equivalent as a recurring debt when they calculate your debt-to-income ratio. Agency guidance requires appraisers and lenders to report special assessments and consider marketability, as outlined in Fannie Mae’s special assessment requirements and monthly housing expense rules in B3-6-03. In practice, that treatment can reduce how much you qualify to borrow or change your loan terms.
Assessment rates are set each year by the district’s service plan. Local reporting has shown Lake Highlands PID rates around 12 to 13 cents per 100 dollars of assessed value in recent years. For context, see this overview of Lake Highlands PIDs from Community Impact. Always verify your exact rate on the City PID page and your current Dallas County tax statement.
Here is how the math works using a 0.13 per 100 dollars rate as an example:
Principal and interest do not change. The escrow portion of your payment adjusts to cover the annual PID if it is billed with your property taxes.
Texas requires a specific notice to buyers when a property is in an improvement district. Sellers must deliver the “Notice of Obligation to Pay Improvement District Assessment” before the contract becomes binding. You can read the statutory notice language in the Texas Property Code.
Title companies and lenders order tax certificates that show whether a PID appears on the county tax roll and whether any installments or prepayments are due. Closings often prorate annual PID amounts between buyer and seller, or they may require payoff of certain amounts depending on the service plan and contract terms. You will see these details in your title commitment and closing statement, and you can confirm PID lines on the Dallas County Tax Office site.
If you want a clear plan for how a Lake Highlands PID could affect your purchase, sale or refinance, connect with the J.Klefeker Group. Our team will help you read the tax statement, coordinate with your lender and title, and move forward with confidence.
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