WHAT’S NEW IN THE HILL

What’s News in The Hill Council to Vote on 2020 Tax Decrease

At press time, we await City Council’s decision to officially approve the city’s property tax decrease for the second year in a row. Mayor Rick Hall shared with us that he is 99 percent certain of a “Yes” vote, but it is not a guarantee. Residents are invited to participate in the public hearing on the city budget and tax cut, scheduled for September 14. After the hearing—at 6:30pm— council will vote to approve both.

City Finance Director Becky Wilkins explains the Council took its first look at the proposed $1.491 million 2020/2021 operating budget, which includes a recommendation for a 4 cent property tax rate reduction on August 24. They took a roll call vote and unanimously approved the proposed decreased rate of $0.454559.

WHAT IT IS

Tax bills are based on the city’s annually adopted tax rate and the certified value of an individual property, as established by the Williamson County Appraisal District. Tax rates are assigned to every $100 in value for a property; e.g., a home appraised at $200,000 with a tax rate of 5 percent will receive a tax bill for $100.

Becky says, “Even with the tax decrease, the new budget will raise an additional $300,879 from property taxes; 93 percent of that revenue will be from new properties.”

In the aggregate, new properties have increased the taxable value of the city overall by 18 percent; the total for 2020 is $410,244,123.

“NO” VOTE IMPACT

Tax rates are subject to a ceiling, so if Council has to revisit the plan, the rates can only go lower. Becky explains, “We were very conservative with the budget planning due to COVID. We wanted to make sure we left room for flexibility if residents were unable to pay their taxes on time. The impact might only be a delay in creating new positions or acquiring new equipment, but there will be no decrease in services.”

“YES” VOTE IMPACT

While the property tax bill goes down, sales tax in Liberty Hill is growing faster than in many other municipalities. Tax revenues have previously been very dependent on “rooftop” tax, but with several new businesses opening, sales tax will make up that difference. Becky explains, “Sales tax reporting is about two months behind actual, and during the shutdown, we kept expecting a bad month, which never came. We are up 34 percent this year, mostly thanks to the people who live here. Everyone stayed home, then shopped and ate locally, which not only supported our business owners, but our tax base as well. For their part, our local businesses adapted quickly to curbside and home delivery, so recovery was ongoing rather than an event after the fact. Looking forward, as more businesses come to town, we can look at reducing taxes on homes even more, which is good for homeowners.”

The public hearing will be September 14 at 6pm at 2801 Ranch Rd, 1869. Citizens’ comments regarding the proposed Annual Budget are welcome.

DEFENDING THE POLICE

Aand compensating for that growth will mid inexplicable calls to the add to our competitive edge and the contrary around the nation, Liberty career potential for officers who want to Hill is showing confidence in and aplive in our family atmosphere and enjoy preciation for its police officers in the high morale.” form of pay increases. Chief Royce Graeter recently made a presentation to City Council that focused on NEW FRIENDS the need to further fund the police; On August 8, members of the Wind “We included factors of recruitment Therapy Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club and retention in an effort to secure arrived in Liberty Hill to show support for appropriate funding from the city.” and boost morale within the department.

Chief Graeter explains while The Club has visited many cities to the funding does not represent an show support for law enforcement, but across-the-board raise, the council President Luis “Hollywood” Rodriguez vote does raise a starting officer’s said Liberty Hill was his favorite that day. annual salary by $6,000, which will “It looked like the entire community enable the department to recruit top came out to see us. They put up tents, notch employees, and stay on par provided lemonade, and the police gave with salaries in other cities. “We do away stickers and community engagenot want our starting pay to mean ment items. It was very cool.” Liberty Hill we wind up hiring people who settle for working here. We want the best From top: Community support for WTFrs and Liberty Hill law enforcement. • Chief officers also set up their own vehicles, and equipment to give kids and commuofficers who are also applying everywhere else. This show of support from City Council will enable us to Royce Graeter • Mayor Rick Hall with WTFrs President Luis Rodriguez Photos: Facebook / LibertyHillTX nity members a close-up look at how the good work gets done in the city. fill the openings of those who are The Club stayed in town for about an retiring early, and retain the services of those who have hour before moving on to their next stop. Chief Graeter trained here and might otherwise go to Leander or annoted that is it unfortunate that this group does not get other nearby city. We can now be competitive with those the recognition they deserve outside of any counter promunicipalities some of our officers drive through every tests that draw news cameras. “I am pleased that we are day to get here.” seeing this kind of thing all over the country; bike groups

The Chief adds that he has been pleased with the positive; supporting us and keeping our morale up. It is a shows of support received from the community as well. great help to those of us who know that just going out to “We are growing, and looking to add other specialized do your job the right way can end in tragedy.” programs like SWAT, bike patrols, and CID. Advertising and boat parades. They are trying to keep everyone

SAFETY AT LIBERTY PARKE

Road safety is a high priority in Liberty Hill and, this month, the city plans to begin final designs for an extension to Stonewall Parkway that will connect directly to the Liberty Parke Subdivision. Council approved the preliminary design and cost estimates at its August 13 special session.

In the final plan, the existing ingress/egress at Liberty Way (in red) will be demolished, and a new entrance to the east (yellow) will be built at the intersection of Stonewall and 29, where a traffic signal is already present. Stonewall Parkway will extend into the subdivision and terminate at a stop sign at Liberty Way. Construction is expected to begin in early 2021 and should be complete within the calendar year.

Mayor Rick Hall says the extension is the result of residents’ concerns about getting out of the neighborhood onto a busy highway, without the aid of a traffic signal. “We received feedback about the potential for incidents. Shifting the entrance to an existing signal was more reasonable for traffic flow than adding another light.”

Police Chief Graeter adds that the new entrance will benefit the entire area. “This is a bad intersection due to people getting into the center lane too soon, and traveling in opposite directions, to access retail shops and the neighborhood. The same happens when drivers use the center to merge coming out of the bank and Circle K. Things get stacked up, with shoppers and people trying to get home, and we’ve had everything from fender-benders to head-on collisions. This new entrance will help everyone.”

The Mayor says the city will hold a public meeting to get resident buy-in on the final plans once final pricing for the project is available. “We are doing this to keep people safe, so we absolutely want to engage the residents in the process as much as possible.”