The city’s property tax rate will stay at $0.42 per $100 valuation, but increasing property values across Georgetown mean the average homeowner will pay about 5 percent more in taxes in 2019 than in 2018.
The increase means an owner of a Georgetown home valued at the city’s average price of $279,521 would pay $1,174 in property tax to the city in 2019.
Georgetown will generate about $2.5 million, or about 9 percent, more in property tax revenue in FY 2018-19 than during the previous year, according to city documents.
Infrastructure funding in the new budget includes projects to widen three streets: Leander Road, Southwestern Boulevard and SE Inner Loop. Voters approved the projects as part of a 2015 transportation bond package.
Budget highlights include:
- Projects within the city’s water supply system, such as upgrades to the intake structure at the city’s Lake Georgetown Water Treatment Plant. The budget also funds new water lines as well as new pump stations in west Georgetown and in areas of the city’s water system located north of Liberty Hill.
- A $1.35 increase in monthly wastewater fees for Georgetown Utility Systems customers. The increase will help pay for new wastewater lines and a treatment plant expansion.
- A $4.80 monthly increase in the base charge on GUS customers’ electricity bills to fund improvements including power-pole replacements, electric-line relocations, and system-capacity increases.
- Hiring 14 firefighters to staff the future Fire Station No. 7 planned near the intersection Hwy. 29 and Inner Loop
- A new school resource officer hired through the Georgetown Police Department to serve in Georgetown ISD’s Wagner Middle School
- Money to cover the first full year of operations of Garey Park, including funding for a new parks maintenance worker
