A growing population and how to best support it—while keeping taxes low—was a key point of discussion between League City Mayor Nick Long and City Manager John Baumgartner at the State of the City event Feb. 29.

Along with that topic, the pair discussed ongoing city initiatives and future projects.

The big picture

The annual State of the City event opened with a video recapping what League City officials had accomplished for residents in 2023, followed by a Q&A panel with Long and Baumgartner.

The event came a day after the Feb. 28 release of the 2023 League City Community Survey Findings Report, which showed that, among 418 households surveyed, the major city services residents are most concerned about are:

• Overall flow of traffic and congestion management
• Overall maintenance of city streets, sidewalks and utilities
• Overall drainage and stormwater efforts

At the event, Long and Baumgartner pointed out that the areas residents are most concerned about are directly correlated with the city’s growing population, which is currently 121,595, according to a presentation at the event.

By the numbers

Community Impact previously reported that 40% of League City’s land is undeveloped and that the city is expected to double within the next 10 to 15 years.

Baumgartner reiterated that the city’s steady growth both burdens and empowers every aspect of the city’s efforts to serve League City, whether it be public works, parks or transportation.

“Growth is always a challenge,” Baumgartner said. “It affects drainage, traffic and water supply. We have to continue to invest in our community responsibly and try to make sure that growth pays its way through the use of impact fees or other fees.”

What else

While a growing population does put stress on the city’s infrastructure and resources, Long said he was proud of how the city had managed its growth strategy while still preserving a no new revenue tax rate year after year.

“We’ve basically doubled the amount of infrastructure funding that we’re pouring in every year, and at the same time, we’ve drastically decreased the tax rate,” Long said.

Stay tuned

Baumgartner and Long also outlined a number of projects and initiatives the city will focus on in the upcoming year, including:

• Southeast Transmission Line, the new water line that will run from Houston to League City
• Adding additional wells throughout League City
• Attracting commercial development to collect more sales tax revenue
• Transportation projects, including the expansion of FM 646 and intersection improvements at Walker Street and SH 96