Round Rock population growth slower than projected in city limits, report shows

A new report on capital infrastructure in Round Rock shows that population growth is slower in the city's limits than projected.

This information was included in a presentation of the capital improvement plan during a Dec. 2 City Council meeting. The report document states in its conclusion that population growth within the city limits has "proceeded slower than projected" in the city's Impact Fee Analysis, but that the number of total connections to the city's water and wastewater systems have been in line with what was projected. The city also collected around $2 million more in impact fees during fiscal year 2020-21 than in fiscal year 2019-20 due to increased commercial development.

"I think there's five multifamily complexes under construction right now," Utilities Director Michael Thane said. "There's four other ones that are in for permits."

Impact fee revenues are used to build infrastructure, specifically infrastructure that allows the city to increase its capacity for additional water and utility connections, Thane said. These connections allow for new development to be easily tied into city utilities.

Also detailed are trends in residential building permits, showing that more permits were filed in municipal utility districts located in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction than in the city's limits. This trend has persisted over the past five years, according to the data.

"As you look here, in our projections, we actually grew slower with population than we projected over the last 10 years," Thane said. "We thought we would be around 123,000 in 2019. We were actually around 116,000. Just because population wasn't growing, Round Rock was growing because of the commercial businesses and all that."

Thane said creating additional utilities connections helps to make the area attractive to residential and commercial developers.

"We are building a lot of these projects so that [for] those properties out in the northeast, there's water, wastewater infrastructure in the ground [already]," Thane said.

The new growth, he said, creates the opportunity for benefits, such as the rehabilitation of pipelines and water resources.