In a detailed presentation to the Round Rock City Council on Jan. 23, Susan Morgan, the city's Chief Financial Officer, laid out the annual achievements of the city's robust economic development strategy. This planned approach focuses on attracting high-quality jobs and ensuring consistent revenue, which has been a key element in maintaining the city's low property tax rates, according to Round Rock's official website.
The strategy's success story began in the 1990s, when Round Rock decided against becoming a satellite bedroom community of Austin. They feared it would lead to higher taxes and increased traffic, among other issues. Instead, city leaders opted for autonomy, which paid off handsomely with Dell Technologies setting up shop in 1993, leading to a spike in residential and commercial growth. Today with 26 approved economic development agreements, the city has seen 6,881 jobs created, soaring past the combined total of 3,108 jobs that businesses were required to generate, as reported by the City's financial head.
These strategic agreements come in various forms, offering property tax, sales tax, and hotel occupancy tax incentives, including direct economic incentive payments to companies that meet the city's performance requirements, like capital investment and well-paying new job creation. This vigilant system of compliance monitoring yearly has proven effective as the city secured a return on investment, with $147 million in property and sales taxes generated from these agreements, netting a remarkable $107 million after incentives, Morgan said, as per Round Rock Texas.
Moreover, Round Rock boasts one of the lowest property tax rates in Central Texas due to its solid economic development. Forgoing an over-reliance on Dell, which created a considerable number of jobs and remains the city’s biggest sales tax source, has also been strategic.
