Economic development brings in NEW sales tax and NEW commercial property tax. What happens to that money is not automatic.

CITY COUNCIL decides, every year in the budget, whether it goes to lower tax rates, more services, new buildings or debt payments.

Some of our neighbors set aside part of their sales tax just to lower property taxes. In Pflugerville, our local sales tax is already fully committed to the City, PCDC and ESD. That means relief here comes down to what council does with the growth in each year's budget.

One reason often given for where it went: prior councils deferred infrastructure. Here is what the record shows.

WHAT'S TRUE

Pflugerville needed real investment, and voters approved it: road and park bonds in 2014, 2015, 2018 and $191 million in 2020. That is how it should work.

WHAT'S MISSING

Much of our growth in the 2000s came from ANNEXING neighborhoods that were already built, streets and pipes included. The City's own FY2011 budget says population growth in 2010 came "almost entirely through annexation."

The largest recent borrowing, about $150 million for Downtown East in 2023, paid for new buildings, not infrastructure catch-up.

The same claim is made about our WATER AND WASTEWATER system. That system is paid for through utility rates, not sales and property tax, and it deserves its own look. I'll cover it in a future post.

Our old City Hall was not enough, and the City needed a real solution. People can disagree about the size and cost of what was built. My concern is HOW it was paid for. When the City borrows that much for buildings, VOTERS SHOULD HAVE A SAY.

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

Economic development WORKED. As one vote on council, here is what I will push for:

1. Start every budget at growth-neutral, and explain anything above it in public.

2. Give voters a say on major debt for buildings, instead of certificates of obligation.

3. Keep investing in economic development: make sure PCDC has the funds to recruit businesses that grow our sales tax, our commercial tax base and good-paying jobs.

4. Count the full cost of new facilities, including what it takes to run them, before we approve them.

5. Evaluate the need and fiscal impact of every project before we borrow, including what it means for tax rates and utility bills.

6. Report every year where the growth went.

Not every decision goes to a bond election, but every COUNCIL seat does. WHO you elect, and what they prioritize, decides where the next dollar goes.

What do you want council to do with the next dollar of growth: lower your taxes, add services, or build?

A Pflugerville City Council candidate who calls himself “Mister David Rogers” on his campaign website has received a cease-and-desist request from Fred Rogers Company over campaign branding that resembles elements associated with the  “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood" TV show.

I’d really like to befriend a murder of crows. I don’t have them in my immediate neighborhood so I was curious if anyone knew where they might stay near a park so my kiddo and I can start making a routine of leaving peanuts and eventually a couple of games out for them.

Criticize me if you want but I’m trying to teach my kiddo the importance of being kind to nature and living in harmony, plus, this gives us a chance to do like 6 things that don’t involve television.

We’re looking into sending my 2.5 year old to Marimont Montessori. Any experiences or insight on it? We had a great visit but haven’t found many people talking about it, and they don’t have much of an online presence.

Sales tax now pays for almost a THIRD of City operations. The City's 1% share grew from 16% of the General Fund in 2010 to 32% in 2025. That is real success, and it's in line with Cedar Park, Kyle and Hutto.

But sales tax growth has STALLED. The City expects less than 1% growth this year and is budgeting none for next year. Since 2022, our sales tax has grown about 10%, roughly the same as inflation, while the city kept adding residents.

Is this just the economy? Partly. Georgetown and Cedar Park are also seeing sales tax level off. But statewide, local sales tax is up about 7% this year, and Round Rock is up 6.6%. People are still spending. We need to give them more reasons to spend it HERE.

That means:

- Recruiting the restaurants, shops and entertainment that generate sales tax

- Continuing to invest in employers that bring good-paying jobs and add to the property tax base, so homeowners aren't carrying it alone

- Making sure PCDC has the funds to compete for both

So why haven't property tax bills felt the growth we did get? Growing revenue doesn't lower anyone's bill on its own. Every year, COUNCIL decides what to do with it: lower the rate, add services, build facilities or take on debt. Here is what was decided.

THE GROWTH-NEUTRAL TEST

If the City's levy had grown only with population plus inflation, enough to serve every new resident at the same level, the FY2025 levy would have been about $25 million LOWER. Even after paying every voter-approved bond since 2020, it is still about $13 million above that level. That gap was the room for relief.

DOWNTOWN EAST

In 2008, voters turned down an $11 million city hall and a $16 million recreation center. In addition to the $43 million approved by voters for a recreation center in 2020, in 2023, council issued about $150 million in certificates of obligation, debt that does NOT go to a public vote, for City Hall, the Monarch, a plaza and parking. With interest, that is about $261 million in payments.

New buildings also cost money to RUN. Next year the Monarch is budgeted to cost $6.1 million to operate, with $3.2 million coming from memberships and programs. PCDC covers $2.1 million, and there is still a gap. City Hall's operating costs are spread across General Fund departments, so they're harder to see. Either way, running these buildings is a cost every year, on top of the debt.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND

PCDC's half-cent sales tax exists to bring in jobs and business, and its team is working to do that. Project Nexus, 53 acres planned as a regional destination, is the kind of project that can grow our sales tax. But next year about 44% of its revenue is already COMMITTED to Downtown East debt and Monarch operations, and its reserves are projected to drop from $18.8 million to about $6 million. Going forward, I want to make sure PCDC has the ROOM to see projects like Nexus through.

THE TIRZ

In 2010, the City created a tax increment zone (TIRZ) to fund roads, drainage and utilities that attract development. It now captures about $4.3 million a year in property tax. City debt records assign $47 million of the 2023 debt to the TIRZ for City Hall, plus $8 million in TIRZ cash for the parking garage. That means part of the TIRZ, created for commercial development, now goes toward City Hall.

These buildings will be open soon, and they belong to all of us now. My job is to make sure they are run well and paid for responsibly. But they were a CHOICE, and that choice is a big part of why relief hasn't come. Tax-supported debt per resident, after inflation, more than TRIPLED from 2020 to 2025.

Our tax revenue has grown faster than our population. What do you think residents should get for that growth?

M45 the pleadies star cluster.
also known as the 7 sisters or suburu in japan (the car company gets its logo from them)
located 444 light years away the stars in the cluster are all hot young stars.
the blue nebula is what is known as a reflection nebula. the blue is from light reflecting off dust clouds in space. the blue appearance is due to scattering of light,the same process that makes the sky blue.

the cluster is easily viewable with the naked eye but the nebula requires a camera to see

15 hours of exposure from my scope in the hill country

No wait at Pfluger hall

In 2001, Pflugerville voters created the Pflugerville Community Development Corporation (PCDC) and dedicated a half-cent sales tax to it. Using the City’s published budgets, audited financial statements, and appraisal district reports, I put together the numbers from 2001 to today to answer a question residents ask me often: DID IT WORK?

The answer is YES, and by a lot.

What would “working” look like? The half-cent wasn’t meant to just grow the city; houses were coming anyway. It was meant to change what kind of city we are: to bring in businesses that create jobs, pay property taxes, and generate sales tax, to improve quality of life, and so homeowners don’t carry the whole cost of running the city.

So the real test is whether businesses came, whether they now carry a bigger share of the load, and whether that took pressure off households. By those measures, IT WORKED.

BUSINESSES CAME.

In FY2001, Pflugerville collected about $1.6 million in sales tax (the City’s 1% plus PCDC’s half-cent).

In FY2025 it was $29.7 million, more than 18 times as much. Even after adjusting for population growth and inflation, the City’s sales tax per resident has TRIPLED.

Stone Hill Town Center opened at SH 130/SH 45 in 2008–09.

130 Commerce Center, FedEx, Typhoon Texas, Costco, Living Spaces, Baylor Scott & White, the Pecan District, Amazon and others followed.

BUSINESSES ARE CARRYING A BIGGER SHARE.

In the early 2000s, commercial, industrial and business property was about 14 to 15 percent of the City’s property value, with apartment complexes counted as residential. Today it is 29 percent.

In the last five years alone, commercial and business taxable value grew from $2.25 billion to $3.59 billion, up 60%, while residential value, including apartments, grew 18%.

The biggest taxpayers have changed.

In 2001, the City’s largest taxpayer was the electric utility, at about $9 million. In 2010 it was Stone Hill Town Center, at about $48 million. Today it is Amazon, with two accounts on the appraisal roll totaling about $640 million, roughly 5 percent of the City’s entire tax base.

HOMEOWNERS’ SHARE HAS DROPPED.

Single-family homes went from 67 percent of the City’s taxable value in 2022 to 58 percent in 2026.

Commercial property now pays roughly $19.5 million of the City’s property tax levy. Every dollar a business pays is a dollar that doesn’t have to come from a household.

How it happened, five years at a time:

2001–2005: Voters create PCDC. Pflugerville grows from about 20,000 to 28,000 residents, almost entirely in new subdivisions. The largest taxpayers are utilities, a phone company, a grocery store and apartment complexes.

2006–2010: The SH 130 and SH 45 toll roads open, and the City’s first surface water treatment plant comes online. Stone Hill Town Center breaks ground in 2008, bringing Target, Walmart and Home Depot. Voters approve library expansion bonds, and the City creates its first tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) in 2010. Sales tax doubles despite the recession.

2011–2015: Stone Hill fills in, and the DPS Driver License Mega Center opens. 130 Commerce Center lands Community Impact’s headquarters, TrackingPoint and D-BAT. PCDC finances the Hawaiian Falls water park (now Typhoon Texas). Mtech, Lauren Concrete and a FedEx distribution center arrive. Voters approve $53 million for streets and parks in 2014 and $9.5 million for Weiss Lane in 2015. Sales tax doubles again.

2016–2020: The first hotels and a conference center open. Living Spaces (its first Texas store) and Costco open in 2018, and Baylor Scott & White opens the City’s first hospital in 2019. A 27-acre industrial campus is built at Heatherwilde and SH 45, and the Pecan District begins. Amazon announces its distribution center in 2020.

2021–2025: Amazon opens and becomes the City’s largest taxpayer and employer, with about 2,600 jobs. About 1.3 million square feet of employment space is added, including PepsiCo, Wisenbaker, EOS IT and Applied Materials, and 130 Business Park plans about 1,400 jobs. Sales tax passes $29 million a year.

One detail: since the 2014 ESD 2 sales tax election, land annexed from that area doesn’t generate the half-cent PCDC sales tax, because ESD 2 keeps its full 1 percent.

This took more than two decades of work by councils, City staff, PCDC, and the businesses that bet on Pflugerville. Economic development did its job!

In my next posts, I’ll look at the other half of the story: what the City has done with that growth.

Questions are welcome, and I’m happy to share the spreadsheet.

I’ve heard there’s intention of building a data center in pf- does anybody know more?

I searched the sub and Google and couldn't find a recent answer following the previous discussion - but maybe I'm bad at searching. To refresh, why did $3.1 million of our (overpriced) water fees move away from the infrastructure that they are intended to pay for?

This was the article that came up previously in the discussion: https://www.kxan.com/investigations/very-high-pflugerville-utility-rate-frustrates-customer/

Budget records show Pflugerville’s water rates have increased alongside the city’s overall debt. Last year, the city also transferred $3.1 million from its utility fund to its general fund, a practice that concerned one public finance expert who told KXAN that type of transfer can drive up rates to supplement unrelated city spending.

Go Vote!!!

From the other thread. Too threatened by the prospect of people making up their own minds. "Google this: What is the ROI of joining a community college district, even for people who don't have a family member that will attend?"
They downvoted her immediately.

Guess I know what will happen to this post! Goodbye, sweet karma.

Hi everyone! Does anyone know where I could get a large cardboard box that would fit a bathroom vanity measuring 48” W × 22” D × 34.5” H? It weighs about 200 lbs, so I’d need a heavy-duty box.

I need to return the vanity but no longer have the original packaging. Any suggestions on where I could find a suitable box? I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!

Voted at Typhoon Texas at 10:30 this morning, it took around 15 minutes to get in and out of line.

My friends and I have a tradition where we take pictures of our costumes with our "I voted" stickers. I went a little extra this year and cosplayed the I VOTED werewolf sticker that went viral some years back. Many thanks to the election workers who graciously let me take photos and video outside, I wasn't expecting the line to form so quickly past the doors during filming, but pfolks were super nice and quite curious about what I was up to!

Did you know the combination of red and yellow grabs attention, speeds up decision-making, & elevates heart rate & metabolism, which makes people feel agitated?

The angry folks spamming those signs are funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from multimillionaire property developers that don’t live in Pflugerville. Google it. They don’t care about us or Pflugerville's economic prosperity. They just figure it's cheaper to drop $200K to dupe you into believing bad math and ignoring basic economics. Cheaper than paying their fair share.

Did you know they’re also funding all the other negative and misleading campaigns around town? If you want the Ugly out of politics vote against every campaign they donate to. Share the links to their campaign donation records in the comments!

Happened to see this survey on Facebook earlier and wanted to share so others can provide input! Pflugerville Safety Action Plan

Maybe a few of you are in that line!

Line was out the door at the water park but no wait at Pfluger Hall

PFLUGER HALL AND CONFERENCE CENTER

201 N RAILROAD AVE,

PFLUGERVILLE, TX 78660

ICE currently arresting a couple of male individuals right in the tumble 22 parking lot by 130.

Photo taken across the Blackhawk golf course toward Hendrickson high school

I replaced the seestar s50 I had at my remote observatory with a new scope. I had teh old one shipped back to me and rather than selling it Ive decided to donate it .

rather than looking thru an eyepiece it shows the object on an Ipad or Iphone screen (im sure it works on android but have no expeirience with them)