GEORGETOWN, Texas — During Tuesday’s meeting, the Georgetown City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2025 budget and set the property tax rate for the coming year.
The new $879 million budget brings the property tax rate down to 36.47 cents per $100 valuation. Despite this reduction, the average property tax bill is expected to rise by $32 due to increasing property values.
The city’s property tax rate remains one of the lowest of all cities in the Austin area with a population over 20,000.
The adopted budget emphasizes substantial investments in infrastructure, public safety, and customer service, reflecting the city’s response to rapid growth and rising demands.
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Key rate adjustments in the FY 2025 budget include:
- Water/Wastewater Rates:An 11.75% water and 11.25 percent wastewater rate increase for all customer types, or approximately a total monthly increase of $13.25 for a residential customer using 10,000 gallons per month.
- Solid Waste Rates:A 4.5% increase for residential customers and 9.5 percent for commercial.
- Streetlight Replacement Fee:A new $2.40 monthly fee to fund energizing and maintaining streetlights for City residents and businesses.
- Energy Efficiency and Conservation Fee:An increase from 20 cents to $1 per month for Georgetown Electric Utility customers to recover the cost of administering energy conservation programs such as energy audits and rebates. Commercial customers will also pay the per meter per month fee based on rate class.
Mayor Josh Schroeder highlighted the budget’s commitment to Georgetown’s future. “In the next fiscal year, residents are going to see a continued investment in the future of Georgetown, including in our transportation and utility infrastructure, as well as customer service and public safety,” Schroeder stated. “This year’s adopted budget addresses the challenges we’ve seen from our rapid growth while maintaining the services our residents expect.”
The budget also includes several significant investments and improvements, including:
- 37 positions in key areas such as water, electricity, and public safety
- Responding to pressures from development and growth: The number of building permits has increased compared to FY 2023, and there has been a 30% growth in the population served by Water Utility since 2020
- Employee recruitment and retention: The budget includes an average merit pay of 4 percent and conducting additional market reviews for City positions.
- Implementation of a 311-like Call Center to help centralize residential calls for City services, streamline processing and reporting of service calls, improve response times, and enhance customer service Citywide.
- Transportation improvements, including Williams Drive, Shell Road, D.B. Wood Road, SE and NE Inner Loop, Stadium Drive, and Rockridge Lane.
- Water plant operations staffing, as well as capital improvement projects, including upsizing waterlines, rehabilitating the Dove Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, expanding the III Forks wastewater plant, and other investments in infrastructure to ensure water demands in the City’s water service area meet current and future growth.
For detailed information on the budget, residents can visit georgetowntexas.gov/finance.