The city will continue to focus on a strategy of fostering resilience across different sectors of the city, including economy, transportation, water infrastructure, disaster preparedness and beyond, as the city continues to grow.
“We expect [the population] to go to 200,000 within the next 30 years,” Baumgartner said.
The biggest challenge in the near future for the city will be inflation, like in much of the country, Long said.
“Commercial development is key to creating financial resilience,” Long said.
Inflation has already caused price escalation in construction projects, and issues in the supply chain have led to long waits on materials, Baumgartner said.
However, both Baumgartner and Long remain optimistic about the future of the city.
“The future is bright for League City,” Baumgartner said.
The city also supports use of the $32 billion Texas budget surplus to increase education funding for local school districts in the ongoing legislative session, Long said.
<
“Our main goal is to pass down [the surplus] to property owners,” Long said. “For the majority of people, their house is their single largest investment.”
The increased education funding would reduce the school district’s need for high property taxes, Long said.
The city also plans to continue working on a variety of projects to bolster the city's water and transportation infrastructure, including projects from the 2019 bond, which Community Impact previously reported on.
“As we look forward, we can’t stop on these projects,” Baumgartner said.
Furthermore, the city expects to see a lot of growth in the southwest part of the city as many major housing developments are underway and talks on the Grand Parkway continue to progress, Baumgartner said.
“[League City] is a great place to live, raise family and do business,” Baumgartner said.
The prerecorded Q&A with the mayor, who could not attend the event due to a family emergency, can be viewed here. Plus, the city manager's Q&A can be viewed here.
