Residents can expect to see changes in their tax bills in the next fiscal year, according to City Administrator Travis Askey.
“One of the great things about having done the bond election in November is that it gives us plenty of opportunity to put that on the street, award it, and then communicate our information to the Travis Central Appraisal District, such that those bond election results will then be part of the tax bill for [fiscal year] 2022[-23],” Askey said.
Proposition A is a $13.2 million bond to build a new City Hall and police building, both located at 911 Westlake Drive. For larger road projects, Proposition B allotted $11.8 million for permanent public improvements to six major roads in the city, two of which serve as arterial roads.
Residents also passed Proposition C to establish a permanent road maintenance fund through the abolition of a tax rate used for property tax relief and instatement of an equivalent sales tax.
Following the passage of the bonds Nov. 2, the city said three months will be spent drafting and editing a preliminary official statement, which discloses financial specifics of the bonds prior to their sale. Bond pricing is anticipated to be through competitive sales and bids scheduled to open Feb. 8, 2022, with the final official statement posted electronically Feb. 16. The bidding is scheduled to finish and the bond closing process is slated for March 9.
“Whenever you put the bids on the street for the six projects that were approved, one of the first questions contractors have is if you have the money available,” Askey said. “This is a pretty complex bid with six separate packages and a substantial amount of money.”
The city is working quickly to draft bond statements and capture historically low interest rates, according to Askey. Though the bonds were originally planned to be part of the May 2020 election and were cancelled, Mayor Linda Anthony said this is a project more than four years in the making.
With the passage of propositions A, B and C, the median homeowner of a $1.5 million house in West Lake Hills can expect around a $1,436 increase in their tax bill next fiscal year.
“I wanted to let our residents know that we’re not sitting around congratulating ourselves and twiddling our thumbs,” Anthony said. “We’re actually getting the work in, hoping that we can deliver for our residents what they said they wanted.”
