Leander City Council voted Aug. 6 to approve the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority's budget for fiscal year 2026-27, which includes a $22.1 million contribution from Leander.
Breaking it down
Leander partnered with the cities of Cedar Park and Round Rock to form BCRUA, which draws water from Lake Travis for the three cities’ water supplies.
The overall BCRUA budget for the upcoming fiscal year amounts to $41.2 million. The majority of that figure comes from the debt service budget, which pays for the debt taken on by BCRUA for infrastructure projects. Compared to last year, the debt service budget increased by 8.36% this year to $33.4 million.
Meanwhile, the operating budget—which pays for routine expenditures like payroll—totaled about $7.8 million this year, or an 8.8% increase.
Since Leander both utilizes more water through BCRUA and has a larger share of the partnership's capacity than Round Rock and Cedar Park, the city pays more toward BCRUA.
BCRUA documents show Leander will contribute $4.3 million to BCRUA’s operating budget and $17.7 million toward the debt service budget. Together, those contributions total $22 million, a $1.9 million increase from the previous year.
Leander Mayor Na'Cole Thompson and resident Richard Schaffner represent Leander on the BCRUA Board of Directors, which is made up of two representatives from each partner city.
One more thing
BCRUA's annual average water production is expected to increase by 1.1 million gallons per day compared to FY 2025-26 at 19.5 MGD, according to documents from the city of Leander.
After being approved by the BCRUA board June 24, the budget was approved by Cedar Park on July 23.
A posted agenda indicates Round Rock will vote on the BCRUA budget the evening of Aug. 13.
