The San Marcos Municipal Court relocated to 350 Barnes Drive and reopened to the public on Sept. 29.
The San Marcos Municipal Court was previously located at the Hays County Government Center since 2013, with its last operational day on Sept. 22. The city held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new space on Sept. 26.
The San Marcos Municipal Court is responsible for all minor offenses, called Class C misdemeanors, and violations of city rules within the city limits of San Marcos.
According to Texas Law Help, Class C misdemeanors include traffic violations like speeding and driving with defective equipment, which carry fines up to $500. Non-traffic Class C misdemeanors include public intoxication, theft of items valued at less than $100, possession of drug paraphernalia, assault without injury and many others, all with fines not exceeding $500.
Texas Law Help defines city ordinance violations as leash law, health and safety ordinances and solicitation. The maximum fine for violating city ordinances does not exceed $2,000.
University Police Department Class C misdemeanors do not fall under the court’s jurisdiction, according to Chief Matthew Carmichael.
Municipal Court Presiding Judge Dallari Landry said the city’s real estate team had been searching for a new location for the court for two years, due to the Court’s lease at the Government Center being terminated on Sept. 30, 2025.
“We’ve had some really inappropriate places that we looked at; we could never be a courtroom there,” Landry said. “So we came and looked at the building, and [City real estate specialist Brandon Tomasini] said, ‘I think this is a really great building’ so we gathered everybody up and we came and looked at it and said, ‘This is the one.'”
Facilities Project Manager Darren Lubbock said the new space allows San Marcos to have its own Municipal Court rather than sharing space with the county’s location.
“I feel super great about [this project]. It was a little challenge … to get [the Court] to this point here; it’s a milestone that the city has reached,” Lubbock said.
The building on Barnes Drive was found by the court in March 2024, and in May 2025, architects were hired to design the interior space of the building and estimate the costs.
Lubbock said he picked up this project when it was halfway done.
“[The project] started, I believe, about this time last year. We had a very short duration to make this all happen,” Lubbock said.
San Marcos public safety communications specialist Russell Wilde said the interior design was completed in August 2024 at an estimated cost of $2.6 million.
Wilde wrote the anticipated build cost includes the interior build-out, upgrades to the major systems, like lighting, to convert the building into an office space.
“Every effort has been made to use as much of the interior finish-out as possible to minimize total build-out costs. Because of the significant cost, staff recommends a 20-year lease term,” Wilde wrote in an email to The Star.
Wilde wrote that, during the term of this lease, city council will be given a right-of-first refusal if the landlord decides to sell the building.
According to the National Association of Realtors, a right of first refusal in a lease agreement, or other formal real estate property agreement, grants its holder the first opportunity to make an offer on the property and buy it if it goes on the market.
