Cedar Park Passes Lowest Tax Rate In 22 Years

Tony Cantu
Updated ·4 min read

CEDAR PARK, TX — The Cedar Park City Council on Thursday passed the lowest tax rate since 1998 as part of a new municipal budget.

Toward that aim, the council adopted an ad valorem property tax rate of 44.69 cents for every $100 of property valuation — representing a slight decrease from last year’s 44.7 cents — at its regular council meeting. Combined with the homestead exemption council unanimously passed in 2018, the average Cedar Park homeowner will see roughly a $2.65 monthly increase in property taxes paid to the City of Cedar Park in 2021, officials said.

Property taxes paid to the city represent only about 18 percent of the total tax bill, officials noted, with the rest goes to the school district, county and other taxing entities. The measure also marks the seventh consecutive year city council has lowered the tax rate and it is the lowest Cedar Park has seen since 1998, city officials said.

With the new tax rate, city council members passed a $59.6 million General Fund budget for fiscal year 2021 with a theme of "Home is where the Heart Is" inspired by the circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic — during which Stay Home Work Safe orders caused many people to reprioritize and refocus on home, family and community, officials noted.

While the budget maintains the city’s practice of servicing and buying down debt to save taxpayers millions in interest, officials added, it maintains its ability to continue investing in infrastructure to meet the expectations of residents. To that end, the new budget includes third and final takedown of voter-approved general obligation bond funds from the 2015 Bond Program — with more than half (52 percent) of the General Fund operational budget allocated to public safety needs, officials said.

Additionally, the council approved adding one new police officer position and earmarked $784,761 for police and fire tenure-based annual step increases based per their meet-and-confer agreements.

As with last year’s budget, the biggest new capital projects in the fiscal year 2021 working budget are bond-funded. This year’s budget includes the continued, full implementation of projects funded by FY 2020’s third and final takedown of $31 million in funds approved by voters in the 2015 Bond Election. Projects include:

  • The remaining $300,000 of $20.5 million in voter-approved bond funds, towards the new $30.5 million Library location in the Bell District.

  • $1.5 million towards Brushy Creek Regional Trail Connections,

  • $9.5 million for the extension of New Hope Drive from Ronald Reagan to Sam Bass Road.

  • $527 thousand towards the North Brushy Creek Trail Project.

  • $500,000 allocated for the Lakeline Park Project.

Moreover, officials added, two cents of local sales tax for every dollar spent on shopping and dining within the city limits of Cedar Park stay in Cedar Park and help offset the City’s reliance upon property taxes to fund the budget: One cent supports the General Fund, a half cent goes to the Community Development (Type B) fund, 3/8 cent goes to the Economic Development (Type A) fund. An eighth of a cent goes towards Stormwater Drainage, approved by voters in 2018.

Even with the ongoing pandemic, officials stressed, the city is projecting $16.8 million in sales tax revenue for the General Fund.

Community Development Corporation-funded Projects ($7.595 million) include:

  • Economic development projects including VUV Analytics and Project August.

  • Transformational projects including The Bell Boulevard District Park and Quarry remediation, and a master developer contribution for the Bell Boulevard Redevelopment Project infrastructure.

  • And other community enhancements including City-wide fiber connectivity, tennis courts security upgrades and corridor sign replacements.

Cedar Park officials boasted the city is the next major job center in Central Texas. Given that self-proclaimed status, Economic Development continues to be a major theme of the Cedar Park budget. As a result, Economic Development Corporation-funded Projects ($5.75 million) include:

  • Debt service payments.

  • Capital repairs and improvements at the City-owned HEB Center.

  • Economic Development incentive payments.

The fiscal year 2021 budget also sees to the full implementation of the city’s relatively new Stormwater Drainage Program, with $533,808 in capital projects during the fiscal year that include the Bell Boulevard Road Realignment.

“Home is where the Heart is, and we take our responsibility as stewards of taxpayer dollars to heart," City Manager Brenda Eivens said in a prepared statement. "When we created this budget, we considered the City’s need to remain nimble and fiscally conservative, given the ongoing potential impacts of COVID-19. We are able to maintain a healthy financial position thanks to responsible fiscal planning and modeling, yet still deliver a great value to our citizens.”

New FY 2021 budget information will be updated next week on www.MyCedarParkBudget.com, where residents will be able to see highlights of the budget and gain a better understanding of the budget and what all your property tax dollars support. There, residents will find animated illustrations, interactive explanations, and a property tax calculator in which you can enter their homes' assessed values and instantly see a chart that shows exactly where your property tax dollars go.

This article originally appeared on the Cedar Park-Leander Patch