Leander in good shape, despite tough economy, mayor says

By Melissa Mixon Wednesday, 27 January 2010

LEANDER — Leander Mayor John Cowman said during his State of the City Address on Tuesday that Leander is doing well, with sales tax revenue increasing steadily and the development of several big projects in the city. He did say, however, that the troubled national economy has caused residential growth in Leander to slow.

“We knew we couldn’t keep growing at 23 percent,” he said, referring to the city’s annual growth in the past few years.

Most telling of the slowed growth is the city’s drop in residential permits. The permits peaked at 1,258 in 2006, then dropped to 987 in 2007, 396 in 2008 and 383 in 2009.

However, both Cowman and Kirk Clennan, Leander’s director of economic development, noted that the city has had several big retail projects open, including the 25,000-sq.-ft. H-E-B, the Gateway at Leander shopping center and Lowe’s.

The city’s sales tax, at more than $1.7 million, is up over last year’s, which has helped to make up for the drop in residential permits.

Cowman listed several successes in the city, including its A+ bond rating and its participation in the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, a partnership among Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock to secure water for the cities over the next 50 years. The project is being built in three phases and will pump water from Lake Travis through a regional deep-water intake.

Cowman also spoke about the much-anticipated Capital Metro commuter rail line, which will run from Leander to downtown Austin. The rail has faced several delays, but is expected to open in the first quarter of this year.

Having the rail will open up opportunities for the city, he said, including the possibility of having a 100-acre Austin Community College campus nearby and a Scott & White nursing school. Neither of those entities have announced publicly whether they will open in Leander, but officials from the city have been in discussions with them for several months.

Cowman also praised city staff and council members for not raising taxes this year. The council voted in September to lower the tax rate from 60.26 per $100 of assessed value to 60.042, meaning owners of an average value home pay $11 less on their tax bills.

“It’s because we could do it, and it was the right thing to do,” Cowman said of the decrease.

For more information, visit www.leandertx.org.