Community Conversations

You gotta dig Texas Native Plant Week

Will Hampton — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:00:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock stormwater drainage team reminds you that this week is Texas Native Plant Week.

Native plants are a good choice whether you are planting a tree, shrub, flowers, vines or grasses because they are acclimated to our local conditions and soils, provide habitat for wildlife, typically require less water and maintenance once established, and do not rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to thrive.

These homegrown plants also give us a sense of place and help maintain the region’s wide variety of flora and fauna. Not only do they provide all of these wonderful benefits, but they are beautiful, too!

What better place to check out native plants -- and buy some -- than the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 13 and 14, the Wildflower Center hosts its Fall Plant Sale & Gardening Festival. You can choose from nearly 300 species of Texas native plants. The event also features artists and authors signing their works in the store, guided walks and talks and tips for your garden from experts and kids activities.

Admission is $9 adults, $7 seniors and students, $4 UT faculty, staff or students with identification, $3 children ages 5 through 12, members and children under 5 free.

For more information, call 232-0100. Stop by the booth of the Native Plant Society of Texas Austin Chapter and the Williamson County Chapter.

City seeks input on Railroad Quiet Zone project -- update on public comment period

Will Hampton — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:40:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock is seeking input regarding the Railroad Quiet Zone project. We held an Open House to present preliminary information and gather public input on Wednesday, Aug. 22, at the Baca Center.

UPDATE: Comments recieved through Friday, Sept. 21, will be included in the project record as comments received as part of the Open House meeting. Any comments received after that will be listened to, responded to and listed in project file notes but will not be included as part of the public meeting record.

The purpose of the Quiet Zone project is to make necessary safety improvements to six public at-grade highway-rail crossings along the Union Pacific Railroad’s mainline so that train operators will not be required to sound their horns.

Here is a map that shows the locations of the crossings (PDF) included in the project.

The individual crossings included in this project, and the recommended changes, are:

County Road 172 at McNeil Road (PDF) will add raised medians to the roadway and additional signs
Saint Williams Street at McNeil Road (PDF) is recommended for closure. The map shows alternate routes for motorists in Chisholm Valley. is recommended for closure. The cost to convert this intersection so it could remain open will more than double the cost for the entire project, while reasonable alternatives for access already exist. We have run the timing of the alternatives, and in no case does it take more than three minutes on average, and most often is two minutes or less. The map shows alternate routes for motorists in Chisholm Valley.
Raised medians and additional signs are recommended for the IH-35 frontage roads at McNeil Road (PDF)
Installation of a "quad gate" is recommended for South Burnet Street at Park Lane (PDF -- schematic of this recommendation is on the left side of the page)
New signs are recommended at Red Bud Lane at U.S. 79 (PDF -- schematic of this recommendation is on the right side of the page), where raised medians are already in place.

The project does not include the crossings on RM 620 at Chisholm Trail Road and on Sam Bass Road at Wonder Drive.

You can offer comments on the proposal at the City's Decision Points blog, or by contacting Chad Wood, P.E., city Transportation Engineer, at 218-6601.

Proposed budget features lower tax rate, increased funding for street maintenance

Will Hampton — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:34:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock’s proposed fiscal 2013 budget features a tax rate slightly lower than last year while increasing funding for street maintenance by 36 percent, and maintaining an emphasis on public safety, community development and parks.

City Manager Steve Norwood formally presented the draft budget (PDF) to the City Council on Aug. 1. The City Council will review the budget at its Aug. 14-15 annual planning retreat. The budget and tax rate will be voted on at the Council’s two regularly scheduled meetings in September. A helpful Budget In Brief (PDF) document provides a high level overview of the budget. We've also compiled an FAQ for the budget.

“The City continues to take a conservative, long-term approach to its financial and operational planning,” Norwood said. “The decisions that are made now will strongly influence what the City will look like and how it will operate for years to come.”

Priorities addressed in this budget provide adequate funding to maintain current service levels in a growing community, with the exception of increased funding for street maintenance.

The budget proposes a tax rate of 42.035 cents per $100 of property value, compared to 42.321 cents last year. The owner of an average value home would pay $732.29 under the proposal, about $12 less than last year.

The City of Round Rock continues to have a property tax rate that is among the lowest of any medium-to-large city in the state, including those cities with an additional half-cent sales tax for property tax reduction.

Sales tax revenue is extremely important to the City in that it reduces property taxes and makes up approximately 51 percent of the General Fund revenue. Sales tax revenues have seen a stabilization trend for the past two years, and are continuing.

While Dell sales tax figures continue to show declines from the previous year, sales tax from other sources within the City help to reduce the impact. Due to the volatile nature of sales tax revenues, a conservative approach was utilized in estimating this budgeted amount. Reflecting current and anticipated economic conditions, this budget includes a sales tax estimate for the General Fund of $45 million.

Water and wastewater rates will remain unchanged from current rates. The City Council adopted a four-tier water rate structure in May that is designed to encourage conservation.

“I believe the proposed budget reflects a fiscally responsible approach to improving the City’s current infrastructure, and meet the current demands while maintaining the City’s strong financial position,” Norwood said. “We look forward to Round Rock citizens input and discussion of the FY 2013 proposed operating budget.”

Public hearings will be conducted at the Sept. 13 and Sept. 27 Council meetings.

Happy Storm Water New Year!

Will Hampton — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:30:00 GMT

On Aug. 13, the City of Round Rock staff celebrates “Storm Water New Year” as we reach the end of another storm water permit year. Our mandatory permit requires the City to maintain and hopefully improve water quality in our creeks and waterways. Each we are required to report our accomplishments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

This year is particularly significant as we reach the end of our five-year permit term which requires full implementation of the Best Management Practices and accomplishment of goals listed in the permit (PDF).

We are proud to say that we completed all of the permit requirements but we realize there is still much work to do. The 2012 City Survey (PDF) revealed 43.5 percent of Round Rock citizens are “Very Satisfied” or “Satisfied” with the “City storm water education and outreach efforts.” However, it also revealed there is another 10.4 percent who expect more. Our own (non-statistical) storm water awareness survey demonstrated that approximately one-third of respondents do NOT know our storm inlets drain directly to creeks. What!?! That is right – we have a ‘storm drain’ system that drains directly to creeks without filtration or treatment.

Round Rock grew 20 percent and gained more than 17,000 residents in the last permit term (2007-2012). Many of our new residents are from older areas of the country where storm “sewers” combine with wastewater flows and pass through a treatment plant. They do not realize that if they throw their cigarette butt into the inlet, blow their grass clippings into the street or fail to properly pick up after a pet … the next rains will carry all of this into our creeks. Yuck!

Look for more information and outreach from the Round Rock Storm Water team as we work toward increasing residents’ understanding of how they can help improve the water quality in our creeks. In the meantime, please visit storm water on the city website for more information.

Did you know that 58 percent of Texas waters are impaired?

Will Hampton — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:15:00 GMT

It is estimated that up to 90 percent of those impairments are due to polluted storm water. Storm Water is the result of rain runoff and even snowmelt that travels across roofs, yards, parking lots and streets and into our creeks and waterways.

We are currently conducting a survey to gauge residents’ knowledge and perceptions about storm water so that we can tailor future outreach and pollution prevention efforts. The survey is available through April at http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/survey.

In 2007, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) began requiring urbanized areas to create a Storm Water Management Program to maintain and improve local water quality. TCEQ required cities to create a plan and obtain a permit to ensure compliance with EPA regulations and the Clean Water Act.

The Storm Water Management Plan addresses several TCEQ mandated elements:

Public Education and Outreach
Public Participation
Illicit Discharge Detection
Construction and Post Construction Storm Water Management
Pollution Prevention

Please help us by providing your feedback as we strive for a storm water program that is effective, efficient and meaningful to the citizens of Round Rock.

City to implement $58 million, 5-year traffic improvement program

Will Hampton — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Beginning in September 2011, the City of Round Rock is implementing a $58 million, 5-year plan to address the community’s most pressing transportation needs. The program will be primarily funded through the existing half-cent Type B sales tax revenue for economic development.

Transportation staff identified key problem areas, and presented a series of solutions to the Round Rock City Council at its August planning retreat. The City Council, after providing guidance on timing and priorities, signed off on the program. The 5-year program is flexible, and new projects will be added to it as work is completed and funds allow. It will be updated annually.

The highest-priority problem areas identified are below. Links take you to projects designed to address the problem:

IH 35 corridor deficiencies, most notably on-ramp and off-ramp locations
North-south connections west of IH 35. There are no significant crossings of Brushy Creek between Chisholm Trail and Parmer Lane.
Intersection/corridor efficiency, in particular traffic signal timing and lack of dedicated right turn lanes.
East-west routes west of IH 35, especially where there are at-grade railroad crossings.
Rehabilitation of major arterial roads. Many of our existing arterial roads need significant maintenance or reconstruction to improve safety, traffic flow and economic vitality.

While all of these problem areas are within the City’s jurisdiction to address, we will need to partner with the Texas Department of Transportation on some of the proposed solutions. We anticipate that costs will be shared by other agencies on some projects.

Transportation staff analyzed and ranked problem areas and proposed solutions that are both technically sound and affordable, i.e., within the projected revenue stream of the half-cent Type B sales tax. Type B denotes the state law that stipulates the uses for this sales tax, which is for the promotion of economic development.

Round Rock voters in 1997 approved the half-cent sales tax and limited its use to major road and transportation projects, i.e., those that impacted economic development. Since that time, the City has leveraged the $115 million of Type B revenue into $376 million worth of projects by partnering with the Texas Department of Transportation, Williamson County and private developers.

The 5-year program does not include $30 million of ongoing Type B sales tax funded transportation projects, like a new north-south arterial east of IH 35 (Kenney Fort Boulevard) and the widening of Chisholm Trail Road north of FM 3406. Even with the new 5-year program and the existing projects, the City anticipates maintaining an $8-10 million fund balance for the Type B sales tax fund.

Your thoughts or questions about the program are welcome.

Budget plan restores funding for street maintenance, balanced at effective rate

Will Hampton — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:34:00 GMT

The Round Rock City Council will consider a $137 million fiscal 2012 budget (PDF) that includes renewed funding for street maintenance, balanced at the effective tax rate, and no water/wastewater utility rate increases.

City Manager Steve Norwood presented copies of the proposed budget to the City Council on Monday, Aug. 1. The City Council will discuss the budget in detail at its Aug. 16-17 retreat, and will vote on the budget and property tax rate at its Sept. 8 and Sept. 22 meetings.

The proposed general fund budget is 2.4 percent higher than the current budget. For the past two years, the general fund budget has decreased by a total of nearly 6 percent.

The budget projects sales tax revenue to increase to $43 million, 6.2 percent more than was budgeted in the current fiscal year.

“This budget continues a very conservative approach to revenue projections,” Norwood said. “We are definitely seeing improvement in our local economy, but we want to ensure we are living within our means and this budget reflects that approach.”

The effective tax rate of 42.321 cents per $100 of valuation provides the same amount of revenue collected last year from properties on the tax roll last year. Because overall property values have decreased slightly, the effective rate is slighter higher than last year’s tax rate. An individual property owner’s payment will vary compared to last year based on the change in the appraised value of their home.

The budget includes $1.2 million for street maintenance. New funding for street maintenance had been put on hold for two years due to budget constraints. The funds for street maintenance scheduled to begin later this month were carried over from previous budgets.

“Without question the No. 1 issue I have heard from council and residents is the need to improve our maintenance program as it relates to residential streets,” Norwood said. “This budget has a significant amount of additional dollars dedicated solely to improving the condition of our neighborhood streets.”

For the second consecutive year, there are no proposed increases to retail water and wastewater rates. There is also no increase in drainage utility rates.

The budget includes funds to bring various employee salaries up to market levels. City employees have not had salary increases since April 2009.

“This budget continues to place a priority on our public safety and public service employees, and we have a limited amount of funding to ensure many of our job classes are paid competitively,” Norwood said. “It’s not huge, but it does address the most pressing areas.”

Google chooses to deploy ultra high-speed network in Kansas City

Brooks Bennett — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:04:00 GMT

After a year reviewing over 1,100 community responses to the Google Fiber for Communities project, Google has chosen to deploy its ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas.

Again, we want to thank all 1,194 citizens who responded to our survey and the businesses and institutions who wrote letters of support for the City of Round Rock's application for the project.

You can find our archived response, including survey results and other supporting materials, at roundrocktexas.gov/google.

New drainage utility fee goes into effect in March

Will Hampton — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:30:00 GMT

A new drainage utility fee goes into effect with March utility bills. The fee is part of the City’s long-term effort to reduce its reliance on sales tax revenue and was approved by the City Council in November.

All single family residences will pay a flat fee of $2.75 per month. The fee for commercial, industrial and multi-family properties is calculated based on their amount of improved area – buildings, parking lots, driveways, etc. So if a commercial property has 10 times the improved area as compared to an average home, its fee would be $27.50 per month.

The City’s stormwater drainage program is designed to protect life and property from flood damage and keep runoff from polluting creeks and other waterways. The program had been paid for through general fund revenues like sales taxes and property taxes.

The City Council has been studying the concept for about a year. As part of its early budget deliberations in February 2010, as the economic downturn continued, the City Council asked staff to evaluate the appropriateness of a Drainage Utility.

More than 60 cities in Texas have created drainage utilities to ensure consistent funding for regulatory compliance, environmental preservation and protection of life and property from flood damage. A Drainage Utility also aligns with our citizens’ preference for user fee based program funding, where costs are paid for by those who use and benefit the most from the service.

Because Round Rock is one of the most sales tax dependent cities in Texas, the City Council in recent years has been systematically reducing our reliance on that revenue source for daily operations. For example, the City has paid cash for some one-time capital expenses to reduce our debt burden. Last year, the City Council decided the time had come to change how we fund the stormwater system due to declining sales tax revenues and increasing demands for other services funded by general revenues, such as police and fire protection.

Information on the Drainage Utility is available at roundrocktexas.gov/stormwater.

An update on Google fiber

Brooks Bennett — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:17:00 GMT

Earlier this year, the City of Round Rock and 1,099 other communities submitted applications to help Google test an ultra-high speed broadband network in our community as part of the Google Fiber for Communities project.

Google was anticipating announcing the selected community or communities by the end of 2010, but a post on the Official Google Blog has announced that the decision has been pushed back until early 2011 due to overwhelming response.

Again, want to thank all 1,194 citizens who responded to our survey and the businesses and institutions who wrote letters of support. You can find our entire response, including survey results and other supporting materials, at roundrocktexas.gov/google.

Update: Transportation DACS revision

Will Hampton — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:27:00 GMT

City staff is currently working on what was originally thought to be an update, but will now be a complete revision to the Transportation DACS.

Internal discussions led to the conclusion that the Transportation section of the DACS needed a complete overhaul as opposed to an update that may have left many needed revisions left undone. The City has hired a transportation engineer, Chad Wood, P.E., since the last update. Chad will help lead the DACS revision. You can contact Chad at cwood@round-rock.tx.us or 218-6601.

The estimated target date for the completion of the Transportation DACS revision is January 2012.

City Council calls election to expand uses of economic development sales tax

Will Hampton — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:07:00 GMT

The Round Rock City Council has called for a Nov. 2 election to ask voters if they are willing to expand the allowable uses of the City’s economic development sales tax.

Approved by voters in 1997, the half-cent sales tax is restricted to transportation projects that promote economic development. The election would determine whether the City can expand the purposes of that half-cent sales tax to all uses allowed by state law.

If approved, the ballot measure would not impose a new tax or raise the existing sales tax rate.

“We are asking voters to provide the City with more flexibility in how to use the revenue from the existing economic development half cent sales tax,” Mayor Alan McGraw said. “In Texas alone, we are competing for jobs with nearly 600 cities that do not have any similar restrictions on the use of their economic development sales tax.”

Texas Local Government Code Chapters 501 and 505 is the section of Texas law that contains the rules governing the use of the “Type B” economic development sales tax, including eligible uses of tax revenues.

Among the allowable uses of the “Type B” sales tax are: projects for the promotion of professional and amateur athletics and sports including stadiums, ball parks, auditoriums, projects related to entertainment, convention, tourist, and exhibition facilities, amphitheaters, concert halls, and public parks, park facilities and events, open space improvements, military facilities, including closed or realigned military bases, primary job training facilities for use by institutions of higher education, research and development facilities, regional or national corporate headquarters facilities, museums and related stores, restaurant, concession, and automobile parking facilities, related area transportation facilities, and related roads, streets, and water and sewer facilities, recycling facilities, and projects to promote new or expanded business enterprises that create or retain primary jobs, and public safety facilities, streets and roads, drainage, and related improvements, demolition of existing structures, development and expansion of affordable housing, and targeted infrastructure and any other improvements, expenditures, or facilities that are related to any of the above projects.

Here is the ballot language:

EXPAND THE PURPOSES OF THE EXISTING TYPE B SALES AND USE TAX FOR THOSE AUTHORIZED PROJECTS AS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTERS 501 AND 505, TEXAS LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE.

Voters will vote “For” or “Against.”

City Council approves changes to garbage/recycling service, effective January 2011

Will Hampton — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:53:00 GMT

The Round Rock City Council voted unanimously Thursday, Aug. 26, to implement a new garbage and recycling program beginning in January 2011. Under the new program, Round Rock Refuse will provide residents with two 96-gallon containers, one for garbage and one for recycling. Garbage will be collected once per week and recycling collected every other week.

Currently, garbage is picked up twice weekly, and customers provide their own containers. Curbside recycling pickup is offered on a subscription basis.

The City has been reviewing this program change for some time, and we appreciate the many comments received on the last post on this topic.

This new program will increase residential customers’ monthly rate to $16.91. The City’s current pre-tax garbage collection rate is $13.95 per month. Customers who have added curbside recycling pickup pay an additional $4 per month. Subscription service will be eliminated once the new program is in place.

Diverting waste from landfills has become a bottom line issue as well as an environmental one. Landfill costs will increase 5 percent a year for the next three years; this is on top of a doubling of costs in 2009. In addition to reducing the amount of unnecessary material going into landfills, the new program will save significant wear and tear on City streets as garbage trucks will make fewer trips.

City Manager proposes reduced budget for FY 2011 that includes additional police, new transit program

Will Hampton — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:54:00 GMT

The Round Rock City Council will consider a fiscal 2011 General Fund budget that is almost $3 million less than the current budget, but adds police officers, a new transit program and establishes a parks maintenance fund.

Round Rock City Manager Jim Nuse submitted his budget proposal (pdf) to the City Council on Monday, Aug. 2. The proposed tax rate for the $81.1 million General Fund budget is 41 cents per $100 of valuation, which is one cent below the Effective Tax Rate.

The Effective Tax Rate provides the same amount of revenue collected from properties on the tax roll last year. This state-mandated rate calculation requires taxing entities to account for changes in the value of existing properties. This rate calculation, however, does not include new properties. Under the proposed rate, the owner of an average value home ($175,980) would pay $725.53. Under the Effective Tax Rate, they would pay $743.13.

More than $1 million in savings has been achieved by eliminating 24 budgeted positions through a public works reorganization, as well as implementing process efficiencies. The budget plan also proposes refinancing and early payment of portions of the City’s outstanding debt.

“Over the past two years, our employees accepted the challenge of cutting costs and working more efficiently and that hard work has paid off,” City Manager Jim Nuse said. “I’m especially proud of the reorganization of the public works departments, which has consolidated functions from three departments into two.”

The proposed budget also accomplishes a critical goal of the City’s financial management policy – reducing reliance on Dell sales tax revenue to fund daily operations. Currently, Dell sales tax revenue comprises 40 percent of the overall sales tax revenue. Next year, it will be 36 percent.

“While sales tax revenue has rebounded somewhat this fiscal year, we must continue to systematically reduce our reliance on it to fund day-to-day expenses to maintain our long-term fiscal sustainability,” Nuse said. “This budget proposal takes another step toward accomplishing that key City Council goal.”

The City’s target is to systematically reduce its reliance on Dell to 20 percent of overall sales tax revenue for operations by 2017.

The budget includes four new police officer positions and $300,000 for a new Peak Hour Express Bus and Reverse Commute program. It also earmarks $750,000 to establish a fund for parks capital maintenance and replacement.

Tax rate-stormwater fee impact

The proposed tax rate is one cent below the Effective Tax Rate to reflect the transfer of the stormwater drainage costs out of the General Fund into a new utility. That revenue will now be collected through a new fee on monthly utility bills. We anticipate implementing the new fee in spring 2011. Fees will be based on a property’s impact to the drainage system, which would more appropriately and fairly allocate the costs for storm water services while providing vital funding stability.

If the City Council adopted the Effective Tax Rate of 42 cents per $100 of valuation, the owner of an average value home would pay $17.60 more than the proposed 41 cent tax rate. We estimate a homeowner will pay about $18 next fiscal year through the new drainage utility fee.

Retail water and wastewater rates are unchanged for fiscal 2011.

Overall FY 2011 proposed budget

General Fund	$81.1 million
Debt Service Fund	$12.8 million
Water/Wastewater Utility Fund	$38.8 million
Drainage Utility Fund	$1.6 million
TOTAL	$134.3 million

City Council to respond to Police Association petition for 'Meet and Confer' status

Will Hampton — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:41:00 GMT

The Round Rock Police Association submitted a petition to the City on June 9 requesting recognition of the Association as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all the police officers of the City of Round Rock.

The petition was discussed at the June 24 City Council meeting, and included an overview of the “Meet and Confer” law (PDF) by City Manager Jim Nuse, remarks by RRPA President John Rowe and a question-and-answer session with the City Council.

The City Council has three options for responding to the petition:

Grant recognition of the association as requested in the petition by a majority vote of the Council
Defer granting recognition of the association and order an election by the voters in the City limits
Order a certification election to determine whether the association represents a majority of the affected police officers.

The City Council is scheduled to act on the petition at its July 8 meeting.

Developers, we want your input as we update the Transportation DACS

Will Hampton — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:44:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock is currently performing an internal review of the City’s Transportation Design and Construction Standards. This update will NOT be a rewriting of the document. It will be an effort to bring the document up to date, and clarify and remove conflicts where they exist.

A public comment period will be held open for 30 days from May 13, 2010, to June 12, 2010. During this time all comments and questions can be sent to the city either directly to the Development Services Office Manager, 2008 Enterprise, Round Rock, Texas, 78664, or here at the Making Places blog. Thank you for your participation in this important task.

We will announce the date and time for a public hearing to review the changes prior to their adoption via our Development News enewsletter as well as here on the blog.

Cost questions impact timing of curbside recycling proposal

Will Hampton — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:16:00 GMT

Questions regarding costs, both long term and short term, have pushed back City Council consideration of universal curbside recycling service in Round Rock.

Initially, the Council was to consider adopting a new residential solid waste disposal program in April, to go into effect on Oct. 1. Since then, there have been a couple of significant developments crop up as we work with our solid waste disposal provider, Round Rock Refuse.

Utilities Director Michael Thane made a presentation at the April 22 City Council meeting (Item 6D1 on the agenda).

Currently, most recyclables in our area are driven to San Antonio because there are no single-stream processing facilities in Central Texas. A facility was planned to be built in Austin, but that project is not proceeding as scheduled, so Round Rock Refuse is looking into the possibility of building its own recycling facility in Williamson County.

Diverting waste from landfills is becoming a bottom line issue as well as an environmental one. Landfill costs will increase 5 percent a year for the next three years; this is on top of a doubling of costs in 2009. So an effective recycling program is critical to managing long-term solid waste disposal costs for our citizens.

The short-term cost issue regards containers. The City may be able to purchase new, standardized containers for both garbage and recyclables for a slightly lower cost than Round Rock Refuse. We are still working through the pros and cons of the City purchasing and owning the containers versus Round Rock Refuse doing so.

Giving Round Rock Refuse time to develop plans for a single-stream facility and sorting through the container ownership issue means a new program likely won’t be in place until spring 2011.

“Because of increasing problems with landfill space and costs, the Council has a responsibility to address this issue now,” Mayor Alan McGraw said. “But we need to get the details right, and at the right price for our customers.”

The proposal initially considered by the City Council, which would replace the current residential trash pickup program, would feature:

Once a week garbage pickup, with an 96-gallon trash container provided
Every other week recycling pickup, with a 96-gallon recycling container provided
Cost of the service was estimated to be approximately $16.71 per month

Currently, residents receive twice-weekly garbage pickup for $13.95 per month (no container provided) and can access drop-off recycling services at the City’s Recycling Center on Deepwood Drive. Participants in the current subscription recycling program offered by Round Rock Refuse pay $4 a month and are provided with an 18-gallon container.

An effective solid waste program will reduce the amount of unnecessary material going into landfills, and save significant wear and tear on City streets as garbage trucks will make fewer trips.

The City Council discussed curbside recycling options at its retreat in February. The once a week garbage pickup and every other week recycling, with containers provided, is the same as recently implemented programs in Cedar Park and Pflugerville.

The primary concerns we have heard from citizens regarding the proposal are:

Increasing the base cost of trash pickup while decreasing the number of times trash is picked up per week
Losing the choice whether to recycle
Storing two 96-gallon containers in their garages will be difficult

Other options considered by the City Council are: weekly garbage and weekly recycling pickup with containers provided ($17.50 per month); weekly garbage and every other week recycling without a trash container provided and a 96-gallon recycling container provided ($15.34 per month); weekly garbage and weekly recycling without a trash container provided and a 60-gallon recycling container provided ($15.78 per month).

In the City’s 2008 customer service survey, we asked respondents a series of questions on curbside recycling. The highest level of agreement was to the question, “What’s most important is that the city ensures the best service at the best price,” with 89 percent agreeing, and 8 percent disagreeing.

The survey also asked respondents if they supported the City implementing a curbside recycling program for all city residents and 81 percent said they did; 71 percent agreed that what’s important is keeping service the way it is.

For those residents who want to set out more than the 96-gallon garbage container, Round Rock Refuse General Manager Ralph Rocco told the City Council in February that additional items/trash will be picked up as well.

“If they set it out on the curb, we’ll pick it up,” Rocco told the City Council. “For the vast majority of people, the 96-gallon container should be enough, but we will pick up additional containers if folks set them out. If you haven’t been recycling, you’ll be surprised at how much it will reduce the waste going into your regular trash.”

The City conducted a pilot program of the service last year, and 39 of the 43 participants said the 96-gallon container was sufficient for weekly garbage disposal needs. Forty-one of the 43 participants said they would like to see the service implemented full-time.

Participants in the pilot program included City Councilmembers, neighborhood association leaders, interested citizens and City staff members.

Rocco said if people do not want to participate in the curbside recycling service, Round Rock Refuse will simply pick up the recycling containers. However, their monthly charge will remain the same.

EPA mandates, fiscal responsibility drive storm water utility consideration

Will Hampton — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:58:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock is facing ever increasing demands for effectively managing storm water runoff due to land development and increased federal and state regulations. Our extensive drainage system requires consistent, dedicated funding to ensure regulatory compliance, environmental preservation and – most importantly – protection of life and property from flood damage.

It is the City’s responsibility to manage our storm water drainage system. We are required by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure certain development, maintenance and water quality standards are met.

Currently, we pay for the storm water system from general revenues such as sales taxes and property taxes. Because of declining sales tax revenues and increasing demands for other services funded by general revenues, such as police and fire protection, we believe the time has come to change how we fund the storm water system. Also, many of the requirements noted above are new, unfunded mandates from the federal government that we anticipate will only become greater over time.

A Storm Water Drainage Utility – where residents and businesses pay a monthly fee to fund the system – is a recognized best practice throughout the country and used by more than 60 Texas cities. Fees would be based on a property’s impact to the system, which would more appropriately and fairly allocate the costs for storm water services while providing vital funding stability. As the demand and subsequent costs of providing this non-optional service continue to rise, it is more important than ever to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of those costs.

A Storm Water Drainage Utility meets the Community’s financial objectives in two important ways. First, it aligns with our citizen’s preference for user fee based program funding, where service costs are paid for by those who use and benefit the most. Second, it aligns with the City’s adopted financial policy which has a primary objective to reduce general fund reliance on volatile sales tax revenue to fund basic services.

As always, we will continue to make every effort to find cost controllers and revenue generators as we work to provide the services as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Thanks for supporting Round Rock's Google Fiber for Communities response

Will Hampton — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:01:00 GMT

On Thursday, March 25, the Round Rock City Council unanimously approved a resolution of support for our submission to Google's Fiber for Communities project. Google plans to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Their networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. They'll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

We want to thank all 1,194 citizens who responded to our survey (even the 13 who did not support Google providing ultra-high speed access here) and the businesses and institutions who wrote letters of support. You can find our entire response, including survey results and other supporting materials, at roundrocktexas.gov/google.

Even though Google has renamed itself Topeka (note the date of this post, please), we're still feeling lucky.

Deadline approaches for Google Fiber for Communities RFI

Brooks Bennett — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:17:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock is putting the final touches on our response to Google's Request For Information (RFI) for its Fiber for Communities project.

If you would still like to have your voice heard, we will keep our survey open until Monday, March 22. As of March 19, over 800 Round Rock residents have taken the survey. For information on the City's efforts can be found at www.roundrocktexas.gov/google.

We realize that communities around the United States are excited about the prospect of ultra-high speed Internet. Too many to count are vying for Google's attention, so we put together a short and sweet video on why we think Round Rock is a great choice.

In other high speed Internet news, the Federal Communications Commission released their National Broadband Plan on March 16 and have posted a wealth of information at www.broadband.gov.

From their website:

"The National Broadband Plan lays out a bold roadmap to America's future. These initiatives will stimulate economic growth, spur job creation, and boost our capabilities in education, healthcare, homeland security and more.

Explore the Plan below and learn more about how affordable, high-speed broadband access will help America lead in the 21st century."

Online communication is becoming vital in our daily lives, and the overwhelming local and national response to Google's RFI makes that evident.

Come on Google, we're feeling lucky.

Game on, Google! City of Round Rock to respond to Fiber for Communities RFI

Will Hampton — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:13:00 GMT

It's official: The City of Round Rock is in the game for the Google Fiber for Communities project.

We've created a page on our website for project information, roundrocktexas.gov/google. There, you'll find links to a survey where we ask about community support for the project, as well as links to our Facebook page and a project email box, roundrocktexasdotgov@gmail.com. We'll add to that page as needed.

We are in the process of completing Google's Request for Information (RFI), which asks questions about demographics, community support, regulatory issues, construction methods, etc. Building a fiber network is a complicated process from a regulatory standpoint, so we'll be doing whatever we can to streamline that aspect of the project. Deadline for the RFI is March 26.

We know many of you are eager to support this endeavor. The best way is to complete the survey (use the link above) and/or add a comment to our Facebook page or via Twitter. We'll be brainstorming Twitter hashtags and other social media strategies from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Friday, March 5, at the Jelly at Star Co. on Main Street.

We will also be reaching out to our institutional partners like the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas State University and Austin Community College for their support. We'll be working with the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce to round up business support for the project.

I'll update the City Council at its 7:30 a.m. work session on Tuesday, March 9. We'll have a resolution of support on the Council's March 25 meeting agenda.

We are seeking your support. Take the survey and let us know what you think.

City prepares for $5 million revenue shortfall; considers new long-term measures for changing economic model

Will Hampton — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:30:00 GMT

As the recession continues to negatively impact City of Round Rock sales tax revenues – we anticipate a $5 million shortfall this fiscal year – we will aggressively reduce expenses in the short term, while retooling operations and our financial management program to deal with what we expect are long-term changes to our revenue model.

As of February, we anticipate sales tax revenue will total $37 million this year instead of the $42 million we budgeted for last September. We plan to make up the difference with $1.8 million in savings from a hiring slowdown and operational efficiencies, $1.6 million reduction in sales tax sharing with Dell, and by cutting $2.7 million slated for street maintenance.

We will not forego street maintenance this year. Instead, we’ll use a portion of the $6 million budgeted over the past two years but not spent as we developed a pavement management system to target those roads most in need of maintenance.

The reduction in sales tax sharing with Dell results from decreased sales tax revenue from the company. As part of the economic development agreement the City and Dell entered into in 1994 when the company announced its move to Round Rock, the City makes monthly program payments to Dell based on the amount of sales tax revenue the company generates. The payment rises and falls based on revenue performance.

If all goes to plan, our austerity program could actually result in a slight budget surplus by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.

Because we expect a continued softening of the economy next year, as well as continued long-term reductions in sales tax revenue from Dell as a result of its changing business model, the City Council is considering additional measures to sustain Round Rock’s solid financial status next fiscal year and beyond.

Among the new measures being considered are:

Shift approximately $1.5 million in general fund expenses that pay for our drainage system to a new utility. This drainage utility would charge a fee to properties based on the amount of stormwater runoff they generate

Increase parks and recreation user fees to generate an additional $600,000 in annual revenue (the plan is to increase our cost recovery to 70 percent from 60 percent of operational expenses)

Use $500,000 a year of revenue generated by our half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements to help pay for the street maintenance program to lessen the impact on the general fund, which pays for basic city services like police, fire, library and parks and recreation

Increase the transfer from the water-wastewater utility to the general fund by $400,000 to cover actual expenses provided by the general fund.

Begin charging for some fire and emergency response services, a move that could generate $100,000 a year

We anticipate being able to balance the budget for fiscal year 2011 using these measures. At this point – six months before the City Council finalizes the 2011 budget – we are projecting a balanced budget without an increase in the effective property tax rate as well as no performance-based pay increases for employees. It also assumes no increase in police staffing, even though we expect our population to continue to grow.

These far-reaching changes are being considered because property values are expected to decrease or remain flat, while sales tax revenue continues to decline.

While Dell remains a global leader in technology, changes to its business model have a significant long-term impact on our revenue. Here’s why: When Dell sells a computer or other product via the web or catalog in the state of Texas, that produces local sales tax revenue to the City. As the company’s business model has evolved and it has begun selling more products in retail stores in recent years, sales tax revenue from the company has been steadily dropping.

To put the changes to Dell’s sales tax revenue in perspective, consider that from its peak of $24.9 million in 2006, we are projecting it to be $13.3 million this fiscal year. We are planning for it to continue to slide to $5.4 million in 2016.

That conservative use of Dell revenue has resulted in $49 million for capital projects in recent years. Had we borrowed that money instead of using the cash on hand, our property tax rate would be 10 cents higher than it is today.

These changes to our financial model could well result in changes to service levels. Our goal is to deliver the services citizens say are most important while sustaining the City’s strong financial standing.

Yes, we are looking at the Google fiber network offer

Will Hampton — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:10:00 GMT

We've had a few emails as well as a couple of tweets to @roundrocknews asking if the City is considering Google's RFI (Request For Information) for a community to host a whiz-bang fiber network. The answer is yes, we are taking a look at it.

If you haven't heard, Google announced Feb. 10 it is "planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people."

The deadline to respond to the RFI is March 26. While it may seem like a no-brainer to submit, we want to do some homework over the next couple of weeks to make sure there are no unintended consequences. If we decide to go for it, I suspect we'll be asking you, dear readers, to join us in the effort.

What do you think? Should we go for it?

City plans budget reductions as revenues decline

Will Hampton — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:50:00 GMT

You may have seen in the news in January that Round Rock bucked statewide trends when its sales tax revenue increased 10 percent compared to a year ago. Most cities saw double-digit declines in sales tax revenue for the month.

Because sales tax revenue makes up 50 percent of the City’s $84 million general fund budget – and usually reflects what’s going on in the local economy – an increase is always good news.

However, the increase we saw in January reflects one-time, out of the ordinary activity from Dell. If you factor out that anomaly, which corrected a prior accounting miscalculation, the data shows the significant sales tax decreases the City has been experiencing the past six months are continuing. If we adjust for the anomaly, sales tax revenues were down 10 percent for the month.

Dell’s presence in Round Rock has been a significant benefit to local taxpayers since the company began operations here in 1994, generating around $45 million cash for capital projects that we would have otherwise had to issue debt for. (When Dell sells a computer or other product via the web or catalog in the state of Texas that generates local sales tax revenue to the City.) Had we issued debt for those purchases, our property tax rate would be 10 cents higher than it is today. Since Dell’s arrival, the City’s policy has been to limit our reliance on that single source of revenue for daily operations because of the volatile nature of retail sales in general and the computer industry specifically.

As Dell’s business model has evolved and the company has begun selling more products in retail stores in recent years, sales tax revenue from the company has been steadily dropping. Because of the changes at Dell and the national economic recession, the City forecasted conservatively when the budget was formulated last summer. We projected that Dell revenue would be down 10 percent, while non-Dell revenue would be down 5 percent. Combined, that’s 7 percent less than last year.

But the revenue decline has been worse than expected – sales tax revenues are down 15.7 percent so far this fiscal year, which began in October – as the recession continues to impact retail sales both nationally and here at home. So City staff is developing a plan to reduce the budget accordingly. The cuts will include position reductions, and other permanent budget reductions. The plan will be presented to the City Council at its winter retreat, scheduled for Feb. 17.

We will provide details on these and other future changes to City operations – which could include decreased levels of service in some areas – as the City Council provides guidance. Our goal is to deliver the services citizens say are most important while sustaining the City’s strong financial standing.

Your thoughts on the services that are most important to you are welcome, as well as suggestions for reducing expenses. We went through an extensive public process in 2006 to gauge the public appetite for service level changes as well as how to pay for services. That input has influenced budget deliberations ever since. Now, it's time to begin the conversation anew.Join us.

City seeks public input on Development Philosophy statement

Cindy Demers — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:28:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock in early 2009 began work on improving its land development processes. This effort is part of the City’s overall philosophy of continuous improvement, and builds on previous efforts to streamline the land development process.

The project began with the development and deployment of a confidential online survey, conducted by Plante Moran on behalf of the City and Round Rock Chamber of Commerce from Jan. 20 to Feb. 16, 2009, regarding our development process. More than 460 individual logins were created with approximately 230 completing one or more sections of the survey.

The survey responses were analyzed by an internal City work group and the results (PDF) were presented to the Round Rock City Council at its regular meeting on June 11, 2009. City staff recommended creating a Development Philosophy document to serve as a basis for future policy development. In August 2009, the Round Rock City Council discussed the development process as one of the summer retreat agenda items.

A Development Philosophy statement is being crafted which is intended to communicate a high level of the City’s philosophy when it comes to development in Round Rock. Once a final document is approved by Council, it will serve as the guiding philosophy from which the staff will propose policies and make process changes to ensure alignment with the Council’s vision. This should serve us well in many areas including helping make sure expectations are clear before a development project begins in Round Rock.

You can read the draft Development Philosophy statement here (PDF). We'd like to hear your opinion of this statement, on this blog, or comments can also be emailed to Assistant City Manager Cindy Demers at cdemers@round-rock.tx.us.