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Record of Proceedings

Round Rock City Council Packet Briefing - May 20, 2025

City Council — Tuesday, May 20, 2025
BodyRound Rock, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, May 20, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

Morning.

0:03

I will call the 7 30 packet briefing to order.

0:06

Ann, please call the roll.

0:13

Mayor Morgan.

0:14

Mayor Pro Tim Stevens.

0:16

Here.

0:16

Councilmember Lee.

0:18

Here.

0:18

Councilmember Flores.

0:19

Here.

0:20

Councilmember Fleming.

0:22

Councilmember Otega.

0:23

Here.

0:24

Councilmember Montgomery.

0:26

Thank you.

0:26

We are missing Mayor Morgan today and a couple council members, but they will all be here on Thursday.

0:32

Citizen Communication, anyone wishing to speak.

0:36

All right.

0:36

We're going to take this a little out of order.

0:39

We are going to start with e presentation and discussion.

0:42

Consider a presentation from the Williamson Central Appraisal District regarding property tax values in the city of Round Rock.

0:49

Good morning.

0:53

Good morning, Alvin Langford with Williamson Central Appraisal District.

0:56

Here to give you your annual value update.

0:58

I get to see you guys every year.

1:00

So thanks for having me.

1:02

Relatively short presentation.

1:03

I'm going to show you our website and go through the value information we have out there now.

1:07

Let's see if I can go through here.

1:09

All right.

1:10

Well, the very first slide here, I just wanted to brag on our staff a little bit.

1:14

We have been designated a top workplace in the Austin area now for the fourth year running.

1:19

This year we were in the top five out of all businesses in the Austin area between 50 and 149 employees, which I found pretty amazing being a local government that we were able to achieve that.

1:30

But maybe even more impressive, we were number one in the entire Austin area on fostering new ideas.

1:35

So a lot of the technology that we use at our office, a lot of the innovations we've had at our office come from our staff.

1:41

And it's obvious uh in the in the rating we got there that we were number one in the Austin area.

1:45

So I'm very, very proud of that.

1:48

Next, I want to talk about our customer satisfaction survey.

1:52

So uh if you've been to our office, one of the things we do as soon as you walk in is we hand you a customer survey uh card.

1:58

Uh we have handed out over 22,000 of those over the last decade.

2:02

Uh probably closer to about 25,000 now.

2:05

We have 4.6 stars, uh 4.6 rating on those customer satisfaction surveys.

2:11

So it's it's it's been outstanding uh to see that that we're taking care of our customers.

2:16

The other is Google surveys, always do this challenge.

2:19

If you can find another local government or any appraisal district that has a better Google rating with that many uh uh uh Google stars, let me know because I haven't been able to find one.

2:30

Uh our staff does an excellent job of taking care of the customers that come through our office, and uh and we get another five-star rating at least every day, it seems like uh so it's it's really good to see that our our staff is doing such a good job for our customers.

2:44

Next is homestead audit.

2:46

Uh you might remember last legislative session, the uh the legislature came through and said out of once out of every five years, we have to verify our audit homesteads.

2:56

And so um there's a lot of misinformation out there about this homestead audit, and I wanted to set some of the record straight.

3:04

You'll see a lot of advertisements on social media and other places that we are going to send out 20 percent of the properties every year a new homestead application, and we're going to yank your homestead if we don't get a new application.

3:20

That is false.

3:21

Just plain and simple false.

3:23

Unfortunately, there's a lot of fear mongering out there by tax agents and the like that are just trying to tell you that we're gonna yank your homestead so they can you know sign you on as a client.

3:32

Uh what we actually do at most appraisal districts is we've hired uh audit companies, and what they do is they look at public data across the U.S.

3:40

They try to figure out if the homestead that you have here uh is the only one out there.

3:46

Do you have another one in Alabama or Tennessee?

3:49

They can see that through like public data like utility billing, uh voter registration, that sort of thing.

3:55

And if we find that you have uh a homestead in two different locations, we will send you a new application to verify that you are at homestead here, is actually accurate.

4:04

And one of the things we use is the driver's license, right?

4:07

That's a part of the homestead applications.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Property Tax█████████████████████████████████████████████46%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████████████████23%
Procedural██████████10%
Public Safety███████7%
Public Works████4%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Water And Wastewater Management███3%
Transportation Safety███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Round Rock City Council Packet Briefing - May 20, 2025

The Round Rock City Council met on May 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM for a packet briefing to discuss agenda items for the May 22, 2025 City Council meeting. Mayor Morgan and some council members were absent. The meeting featured a presentation from the Williamson Central Appraisal District on property tax values and staff briefings on several capital projects and financial items.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No citizens spoke during the Citizen Communication portion.

Presentation/Discussion: Williamson Central Appraisal District Property Tax Values

  • Alvin Langford of the Williamson Central Appraisal District (WCAD) presented the annual value update for the City of Round Rock.
  • WCAD has been designated a top workplace in the Austin area for the fourth consecutive year, and ranked #1 in the Austin area for fostering new ideas.
  • Over 22,000 customer satisfaction surveys have been distributed, with a 4.6-star average rating.
  • Langford addressed misinformation about the homestead audit, clarifying that only about 4% of properties receive a new application for verification, and that homesteads are not automatically revoked.
  • He warned against paying companies to file homestead exemptions, which can be done in three to five minutes on the WCAD website for free.
  • WCAD remains the only appraisal district in Texas to include a sales comparison grid with appraisal notices, covering about 95% of residential properties.
  • Budget: WCAD is the third least expensive appraisal district in Texas based on budget cost per total levy and per population.
  • Langford explained that appraisal values are required to be at market value (95%-105% range) as determined by the state comptroller, and that failure to meet this standard would result in reduced school funding.
  • WCAD has never failed a single question in the Methods and Assistance Program (MAP) review.
  • Legislative update: The homestead exemption is likely to increase from $100,000 to $140,000; House Bill 9 would create a $125,000 exemption for business personal property; the 20% circuit breaker cap on non-homestead real property is likely to expire after the three-year trial period (2026), and Senate Bill 973 would allow WCAD to publish sketches and street-level imagery online.
  • Key appraisal data for Round Rock (preliminary, before protests):
    • Total market value: $30.69 billion (up from $28.47 billion)
    • Residential market value: $15.3 billion
    • Commercial market value: $7.04 billion
    • Multifamily market value: $3.4 billion
    • Median home value: $402,000 (down from $453,000 in 2022)
    • 818 new residential improvements in the past year
    • 252 new multifamily units
    • 36% of homesteaded residential properties remain capped (10% annual increase cap)
    • Total taxable value: approximately $27.07 billion (compared to $30.73 billion market value, due to caps and circuit breaker)
  • Councilmember Flores asked about the commercial cap expiration impact; Langford noted that a large gap may be made up in one year when the cap falls off in 2027.
  • Councilmember Ortega asked about protest trends; Langford reported that property owner protests have declined, but a new tax agent "Ownwell" now has 35,000 accounts, which may delay certification and require additional staff and ARB members.

Staff Briefing: Agenda Items for May 22, 2025

  • Oath of office for Councilmembers Flores and Montgomery will precede the regular meeting.
  • Consent Agenda: No questions were raised by council members.
  • G1: Green Lawn Boulevard project contract with Austin Engineering Company Inc. for $13,953,194 (low bid). Project from Louis Henna/SH 45 to Pflugerville Parkway, includes roadway, lighting, drainage, and bridge improvements. Completion expected December 2026.
  • G2: Supplemental contract #5 with Freese and Nichols Inc. for Chisholm Trail South Improvements/Old Town project for $145,470, to design a sidewalk crossing at the creek near Round Rock Avenue. Project already under construction.
  • G3: Resolution to reject the bid from Proda Inc. for water treatment plant miscellaneous improvements. Bid was $3.2 million vs. engineer's estimate of $2.3 million; negotiations failed. Staff will reprioritize and potentially break the project into smaller parts.
  • G4: Quarterly financial and investment report for quarter ending March 31, 2025 – to be presented in detail on Thursday.
  • G5: Amendment to professional services agreement with Jacobs Engineering Group for Bob Bennett Building Additional Phases. Scope changed to focus on Phase 2, reducing Jacobs' contract from $5.7M to $4.1M. Construction to begin September 2025 with completion by end of 2026.
  • G6: Engineering services contract with Parkhill for Recycle Center Master Plan Phase 1 – $249,500. Phase includes relocating mulch piles and improving on-site queuing.
  • G7: Application for Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grant (SB 224) for $514,000; city match $102,000. Chief noted 60 additional Flock cameras will be added; if grant ends, those cameras will be removed.
  • H1: Second reading of ordinance setting speed limit on Kenney Fort Boulevard from Forest Creek Drive to SH 45 Frontage Road at 55 mph based on 85th percentile traffic study.
  • H2: First reading of ordinance adopting amendment #1 to the FY 2024-2025 operating budget. Includes accounting for the first year of the MVCPA grant and a new sports facility supervisor at the multipurpose complex, funded by fees and HOT subsidy.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken during this packet briefing; all items are scheduled for action at the May 22, 2025 City Council meeting.
  • Staff directed to proceed with recommendations as presented.
  • Councilmembers noted upcoming items for further discussion on Thursday.

Meeting Transcript

Morning. I will call the 7 30 packet briefing to order. Ann, please call the roll. Mayor Morgan. Mayor Pro Tim Stevens. Here. Councilmember Lee. Here. Councilmember Flores. Here. Councilmember Fleming. Councilmember Otega. Here. Councilmember Montgomery. Thank you. We are missing Mayor Morgan today and a couple council members, but they will all be here on Thursday. Citizen Communication, anyone wishing to speak. All right. We're going to take this a little out of order. We are going to start with e presentation and discussion. Consider a presentation from the Williamson Central Appraisal District regarding property tax values in the city of Round Rock. Good morning. Good morning, Alvin Langford with Williamson Central Appraisal District. Here to give you your annual value update. I get to see you guys every year. So thanks for having me. Relatively short presentation. I'm going to show you our website and go through the value information we have out there now. Let's see if I can go through here. All right. Well, the very first slide here, I just wanted to brag on our staff a little bit. We have been designated a top workplace in the Austin area now for the fourth year running. This year we were in the top five out of all businesses in the Austin area between 50 and 149 employees, which I found pretty amazing being a local government that we were able to achieve that. But maybe even more impressive, we were number one in the entire Austin area on fostering new ideas. So a lot of the technology that we use at our office, a lot of the innovations we've had at our office come from our staff. And it's obvious uh in the in the rating we got there that we were number one in the Austin area. So I'm very, very proud of that. Next, I want to talk about our customer satisfaction survey. So uh if you've been to our office, one of the things we do as soon as you walk in is we hand you a customer survey uh card. Uh we have handed out over 22,000 of those over the last decade. Uh probably closer to about 25,000 now. We have 4.6 stars, uh 4.6 rating on those customer satisfaction surveys. So it's it's it's been outstanding uh to see that that we're taking care of our customers. The other is Google surveys, always do this challenge. If you can find another local government or any appraisal district that has a better Google rating with that many uh uh uh Google stars, let me know because I haven't been able to find one. Uh our staff does an excellent job of taking care of the customers that come through our office, and uh and we get another five-star rating at least every day, it seems like uh so it's it's really good to see that our our staff is doing such a good job for our customers. Next is homestead audit. Uh you might remember last legislative session, the uh the legislature came through and said out of once out of every five years, we have to verify our audit homesteads. And so um there's a lot of misinformation out there about this homestead audit, and I wanted to set some of the record straight. You'll see a lot of advertisements on social media and other places that we are going to send out 20 percent of the properties every year a new homestead application, and we're going to yank your homestead if we don't get a new application.

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