Residents of Bella Vista and Twin Creeks in south Cedar Park have another chance to choose whether they want their subdivisions to be annexed by the city before the end of 2014.

City staffers is reviewing residents' petitions for voluntary annexation that were due Sept. 8.

Veronica Frederick, president of the Bella Vista homeowners association, said organizers turned in petitions on Sept. 8 with signatures from more than 60 percent of homeowners in each of the three utility districts within the subdivisions—enough to meet Cedar Park's annexation requirements.

"We're trying to get a few extra because the city has to validate the signatures," Frederick said.

Residents heard more about the proposed annexation during two meetings in August at Twin Creeks Country Club. If city staffers confirm that most district residents support annexation, City Council would likely review the proposal in December.

If City Council approves annexation, the city would gain 858 acres and about 1,400 homes whose residents would pay city property taxes instead of their respective utility districts' tax rates. In return, residents would receive fire protection from the Cedar Park Fire Department, whose Cypress Creek Road station is closest to the districts. Both neighborhoods are currently served by the Volente Fire Department, part of Travis County Emergency Services District No. 14.

Twin Creeks HOA President Ross Burns said most homeowners want to be full city residents.

"We have outgrown the county and the ESD," he said. "We need the resources the city has."

Tax changes

After annexation, Twin Creeks and Bella Vista residents would pay city property taxes as well as fixed monthly utility debt service fees for up to 15 years—fees that vary between the three districts.

Bella Vista is a municipal utility district, or MUD, in which the fee would cost $22.50 per month. Twin Creeks includes two water-control improvement districts, or WCIDs; in District 1F the fee would be $22 per month, and in District 1G the fee would be $44 per month.

At the Aug. 12 community meeting Katherine Woerner, Cedar Park director of community affairs, said the city would include the monthly fee on the new residents' utility bills.

Woerner said the fees will pay the district debts the city assumed with annexation—debts owed to district developers for the cost of building water infrastructure.

Assistant City Manager Sam Roberts said the city's property taxes cannot absorb the cost of repaying newly annexed neighborhoods' infrastructure debt.

"We came up with this idea to use this utility debt service fee," Roberts said. "It's pretty unique, but it's the one mechanism that allows this [annexation] to work financially."

Roberts said the fee would be significantly higher in district 1G because developers established higher debt for 1G—debt that includes a $3 million water system. Twin Creeks developers allocated the water system debt to the first existing neighborhood to receive earlier repayment from property owners, Roberts said.

Regardless of tax savings, the annexation is a response to residents who say they want city services, Woerner said Sept. 3.

Frederick said some residents have not signed the petition because of the proposed fees.

"You can't write off [the fee] like you would property taxes," Frederick said.

At the Aug. 12 meeting, Jerry and Beth Taliaferro said they own two houses—one in each of the two Twin Creeks WCIDs—and signed the annexation petition.

"It's important to us [that] we have fire protection, city police and library, all of the city services," Beth Taliaferro said. "It's worth a lot to me to have a fire truck come from the firehouse right there on Cypress Creek that's really close."

Second attempt

Residents began exploring annexation after ESD 14 ended its contract with the city of Cedar Park in 2010. That meant the neighborhoods were no longer covered by the Cedar Park Fire Department, whose Cypress Creek Road fire station is located about 2 miles from Twin Creeks Country Club. Instead firefighters would respond from the Volente Fire Department whose vehicles would need to drive 5.5 miles across FM 2769 to reach Twin Creeks Country Club.

In 2013 neighborhood leaders distributed a city-provided petition for annexation. Tom Moody, former president of the Twin Creeks HOA, said organizers gathered signatures from 70 percent of residents.

Unlike the current effort, the previously proposed annexation would have been limited-purpose. Residents would have kept their utility districts' tax rate but switched the 10 cent per $100 of valuation property tax rate paid to ESD 14 to their own utility districts, which would in turn pay the city for fire and emergency services. Then the city would have considered full annexation only after the districts' debt was paid off, likely in about 15 years.

But on Dec. 12, Cedar Park City Council halted the annexation process after city staffers said they had learned more about the districts' debts and had insufficient time to work through those issues before the year's end.

City leaders said they were disappointed with the sudden turn in the annexation process but were optimistic about a second attempt for annexation in 2014.

Burns said the current annexation effort may be the last one organizers attempt.

"We've already gone through this twice, and it's very difficult to canvass the neighborhood and get a majority of homeowner signatures," Burns said. "Now it doesn't look like there's anything other than getting the majority signatures that could cause [annexation] not to happen."