The Quarry

Blog: Budget tells story of City focused on service delivery, future growth 

fiscal 2020 budget graphic
We usually don’t think about budgets telling a story, but they do. And the City of Round Rock’s
proposed fiscal year 2020 budget tells the story of an organization focused on the future 

Of course, the budget will fund the daily activities needed to successfully run our city — with a population of 116,120 and growing — from October 2019 to September 2020. But the FY20 budget is particularly shaped by the City Council’s strategic priorities, which include ensuring we have infrastructure in place to effectively manage our growth.   

In addition to infrastructure, those priorities include maintaining a family-friendly community that’s safe, with high value services and great neighborhoods, and that draws visitors through our tourism program and an authentic Downtown. 

The proposed $444.7 million budget includes $214 million for capital projects like roads and utility infrastructure, $125 million for daily expenses – including 11 new employees – and $106 million for utility and drainage operations and our sports tourism program and facilities. The City Council is scheduled to make its final budget vote on Sept. 12. 

Here are some of the highlights from this year’s budget: 

Transportation 

  • Total capital spending for transportation is proposed to be $69.3 million 
  • Annual funding for neighborhood street maintenance  of $4.3 million. The City has invested $12.5 million in street maintenance projects recently completed or currently inprogress
  • McNeil (East Bagdad) Extension  will extend  McNeil Road east to Georgetown Street in Downtown
  • Significant engineering and staff work to prepare  for a five-year, $240 million transportation improvement program  – including Kenney Fort Boulevard, Gattis School  Road, Red Bud Lane and University Boulevard 

Public Safety 

  • Construction of a new Fire Station No. 3, needed to improve response times in south Round Rock, estimated to be completed in November 2020 
  • A new truck for the Fire Department’s fleet
  • Hiring an  additional Fire Code Inspector to help the Fire Prevention division keep up with the City’s  commercial and residential growth
  • Two additional police officers  and two  additional  victims’ assistants  to support efforts to keep  Round Rock one of safest cities in nation, along  with an additional assistant for public safety vehicle maintenance 

Recreation/Cultural amenities 

  • Continued work on the expansion of our trail system including the Brushy Creek,  Heritage and Lake Creek trails – funded by bonds approved by voters in 2013
  • Design of our new library facility to be built in  Downtown, just north of its existing location
  • Construction of Behrens Ranch Park and updates to Mesa Village Park and Bradford  Park 

Downtown 

The General Fund, which pays for core services like Police, Fire, Library, Transportation and Parks, is funded through sales taxes, property taxes and other fees and services. The charts below show where the money comes from for the General Fund, and where it is spent.  

That’s it for Chapter 1 of the budget story. In future FY20 budget blog posts, we’ll dig deeper into transportation funding and the tax rate proposal. We hope you’ll follow along, as we tell the story of a city focused on delivering needed services in a fiscally responsible way with a sharp eye on the future.

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