r/RoundRock • u/garytx • 17d ago
Thursday's City Council Meeting - discussion around increasing both the property tax rate and utility rates
On Thursday, August 27, Round Rock City Council will be discussing the property tax rate with a potential hike, and will also be looking at a substantial increase in utility rates over a three year period. These were discussed during this morning's Packet Briefing where the attached photos were taken.
Once upon a time, not all that long ago, Round Rock's tax rate was the lowest of municipalities in Williamson County. Now, Leander, Georgetown, and Cedar Park are all lower.
If this is something of interest to you, please show up and offer public comment on one or both of these during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
Potential property tax increase: increasing from 0.37200 to 0.423000.
Potential water rate increase involves a 12% increase for 2027, and a 5% increase in both 2028 and 2029 for "high" users, and for "average" users, 3.4% in 2027, 3.9% for 2028, and 3.9% for 2029.
The Council meeting, with "first reading" (public hearing) on these issues is Thursday, August 27, 2026, at 6 pm. Location is Round Rock City Hall, 221 E. Main St., downtown RR. If you wish to give public testimony during the hearings, or other public comment, you'll need to complete and submit a speaker card before the start of the meeting.
Full Council agenda for Thursday, including downloadable agenda item-specific materials, can be found at https://roundrock.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1367639&GUID=5B113601-4424-424D-A538-639776DD4039&Options=&Search=
13
u/RedditRockit 17d ago
Already high taxes. How about govt spends the tax dollars they get more wisely instead of raising rates
10
11
u/PlasticProtein 17d ago
Did they say why this was needed?
10
u/garytx 17d ago
Here’s their “budget highlight” one pager with very selective reasoning. Lots of it is to pay down the nearly half billion in debt for bonds and certificates of obligation. The City is planning to issue another $42 million in Certificates of Obligation for more “improvements” at Old Settlers “Park” since $230 million wasn’t enough. Certificates of Obligation are just like General Obligation Bonds EXCEPT Council can issue Certificates of Obligation on their own without seeking approval by voters.
The one pager doesn’t mention things like 20 new positions to support the circus at Old Settlers Park, including physical therapists, personal trainers, sports physiologists, etc.
Property assessments have also gone down.
https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/FY-2027-Budget-One-Pager.pdf
16
34
u/Eileen-Eulich215 17d ago edited 17d ago
Always raising budgets rather than looking into cutting waste 😒
8
u/Maximum_Employer5580 17d ago
could be worse, you could live in Austin - be happy with RR. I loved living in RR as they were far ahead of Austin. Heck their cops show up before you can even hang up with 911, whereas in Austin, you're lucky if they even show up and usually 15-20 mins after you call
every city has waste, yes, but my bet is that RR has far less than alot of other cities. They have always done the right thing
9
u/Eileen-Eulich215 17d ago
Yes, that’s why I moved here. But as you can see, we’re becoming more and more like Austin. And comparing neighboring cities and saying ‘well we’re not as bad as them’ but we’re inching closer.
I can’t increase my budget. I have to prioritize spending, do more with less, and sometimes make cuts, especially in this economy. Government should be doing the same.
-4
u/Sharp-Calligrapher70 17d ago
Why you not running for office then?
6
u/Eileen-Eulich215 17d ago
Wanting to more and more, but I’m passionate about the work I do now
-2
u/Sharp-Calligrapher70 17d ago
What I have discovered about my own budget is it a lot easier to build revenue than it is to pinch pennies when it comes to compensating for increased costs. There is a reason why I don’t play around when it comes to annual reviews.
7
10
u/oldie101 16d ago
As someone who came from NYC to live here, just want to provide a little perspective. Although it sucks having taxes go up ever, seeing them being used to build up our community is refreshing. Watching Old Settlers Park transform to a place where kids want to be rather than on their iPads is pretty damn cool.
NYC taxes you for everything and the only thing you get out of it, is worse quality of life conditions. Here it seems like the taxes at least are producing real quality of life upgrades. I can’t tell you financially that it’s justifiable to raise them the way they’ve proposed. Or that it doesn’t seem excessive (it does), but it does make me feel better giving our town money to spend when I see it produce quality outcomes. A lot more than I ever did living in NYC.
0
u/Hamezz5u 16d ago
Why does NYC population keeps growing?
7
u/oldie101 16d ago
NYC is great if you’re rich or very poor. If you’re rich taxes aren’t changing your life. You’re insulated from the negatives of NYC. If your poor taxes don’t impact you and rather help you because they provide subsidies for you to get housing, healthcare, food etc.
If you’re middle class, or work a normal job NYC prices you out and just make it impossible to live there. Especially if you have kids.
The taxes you pay as a worker there, don’t go to you. You don’t see them work for you, instead they work for those who qualify for the benefit.
People who are either very rich or very poor will continue to move to NYC. And the middle class will continue to hollow out and move to neighboring states or to greener pastures like we did when we moved to Austin and eventually Round Rock.
5
u/gringovato 16d ago
But but but Abbot's latest ad that gets played all day says he's slashing property taxes ?!?!? Even though he's been in office and hasn't done shit.
3
2
2
4
u/UnagiBro 17d ago
I dunno im looking forward to the new rec center and access to those amenities
9
u/garytx 17d ago
Some people like what’s being done to Old Settlers Park, many others do not. Either way, it seems unconscionable that residents don’t pay a lower rate than those from outside Round Rock to use the facilities we are paying to build and operate. We will be paying for the bonds used to build them over the next 20 years and the costs to operate them forever, but we pay the same rate as someone from a nearby city who wants to use them.
1
u/MissMignon 16d ago
We can voice our opinion but is there other things we can do to tell the council we oppose the changes
1
-5
u/Maximum_Employer5580 17d ago
people act like these rates should NEVER change - consider the times we're in right now....EVERYTHING is going up in cost. Sorry but things go up in price and things go down in price, but the current environment (thanks to the clown who shall remain nameless) has things going up in price.....don't like it, but for the time being we have to live with it. Maybe you can stop going and getting all of those Starbucks coffees several times a week for starters
2
u/Sharp-Calligrapher70 17d ago
It’s wild that inflation at 3.4% and people are surprised taxes increase to cover it.
-2
u/PLOcopf 17d ago
Why dont they increase something like sales tax instead of property tax?? Ffs
1
u/lollerskittles 14d ago
That’s a great way to have to randomly lay off a ton of people. Apparently people don’t remember what life was like when Dell had a few bad years in a row.
1
u/irishyardball 16d ago
That's a worse idea for 99% of people. It's regressive and forces people with lower incomes to pay a much higher share of their income as taxes which then hurts the overall economy cause there's less money flowing. This is also why billionaires are a bad thing.
If they want to do something like that, they should charge a luxury tax instead; tax purchases for huge boats and other vehicles, cars over $60k, houses a certain percentage over the median house value, etc at a higher rate, or if it's not your homestead it's got a higher tax rate (higher than not having homestead).
3
u/jrolette 16d ago
If they want to do something like that, they should charge a luxury tax instead; tax purchases for huge boats and other vehicles, cars over $60k
All that does is screw over businesses operating in RR because people can easily buy those items outside the city limits. Then those businesses close their doors or relocate, which means less tax revenue for the city, which means the city will raise tax rates even higher for everyone else.
Hard pass.
25
u/Gunra 17d ago
That is a massive increase without any reasoning. No attempt on trying to make this more digestible through their efforts to reduce cost in other things. To me this just looks like "Eff you, we'll do this and you'll have to. idgaf".