Leander homeowners, businesses and landowners pay the highest property tax rates of any neighboring city in Williamson County:
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- 10% more than Liberty Hill
- 23% more than Cedar Park
- 25% more than Austin
- 31% more than Round Rock
- 31% more than Georgetown
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The City of Leander property tax rate is $.55 / $100 valuation. Leander ISD’s property tax rate, one of the highest in the area, is $1.51 / $100 valuation. This combination explains why an increasing number of longtime Leander homeowners are being taxed out of their homes.
The culprit for the high city tax rate? Cap Metro.
Cap Metro currently extracts $1.00 for every* $100 in taxable retail sales transacted in or originating in Leander brick and mortar establishments. That one percent sales tax is forecast to yield $5.4M to Cap Metro from Leander transactions for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
The amount Cap Metro extracts from Leander consumers will only become more painful due to the recent South Dakota vs. Wayfair, Inc. decision. That decision is requiring a rapidly increasing number of online, out-of-state retailers to begin collecting sales tax on all online purchases by Leander residents. And like the Monopoly banker, Cap Metro enters every $100 transaction and essentially says, “Thank you very much. That will be $1.00.” Actually, they don’t even say “Please” or “Thank you”, much less offer any additional value to Leander residents in return.
If Leander was not contracting with Cap Metro, the city could retain that additional one percent tax. The council could then apply that revenue to the Maintenance and Operations (M & O) budget, reducing the property tax burden on Leander homeowners by $5.4 million, or over 10 cents per $100 property valuation.
Using the tool below, Leander residents are able to search their neighborhood to estimate their property tax reduction under this scenario.
Tale of two cities
In comparison, residents of adjacent Cedar Park wisely voted to withdraw from Cap Metro. They chose to apply the previously Cap Metro-bound tax to a combination of property tax relief and economic development. As a result, Cedar Park’s sales tax revenues now comprise 30% of their general fund revenue compared to Leander’s 14%. Consequently, Leander residents pay an M & O property tax rate ($.34/$100) which is 47% higher than Cedar Park residents ($.23/$100).
What most Leander residents do not realize is that Metro Rail was not intended to benefit Leander or its citizens. It was to benefit the City of Austin, a handful of local landowners, and several special interest groups. It was sold to the very small percentage of registered voters who actually went to the polls and voted based on the false allusion of low cost mass transit, reduced traffic congestion, and direct access to shopping at Highland Mall. Yes, you read that correctly. Highland Mall, not Lakeline Mall.
Reality check
MetroRail is neither low cost, nor is it mass transit in comparison to other urban rail services, especially given the physical constraints of railcar size/number and the mostly single-track rail route. At least 86 times per weekday, traffic congestion at Leander’s rail crossings is exacerbated by MetroRail passage and MetroExpress(bus) safety stops.
The less than 1%* of Leander residents who do periodically use public transportation often claim the trains are standing room only. MetroRail and MetroExpress departures and arrivals in Leander are frequently empty or near-empty. The standing-room-only experience is typically only after in-bound stops and before out-bound stops at Austin’s Lakeline and Howard stations. One or two early morning and late afternoon commutes occasionally offer the same experience. Not a compelling proposition, especially during flu season.
Solutions and decisions
More MetroRail/Express departures and resident riders are not the solutions. The question for Leander’s future is not how to efficiently ship more people into Austin, but rather how to attract high salary-paying businesses to Leander that allow residents to live, work and spend in Leander. By participating in Cap Metro, Leander homeowners are not only forfeiting property tax relief, they are putting their city at a significant disadvantage to other nearby cities which are attracting these type businesses.
Cap Metro has had over 30 years to make its case. It failed Leander.
Will Leander residents decide to continue throwing away millions to subsidize a very expensive, limited-benefit transportation “solution”? Or are they committed to build their city into a prosperous place to work, shop, and live. Choosing the latter starts with ending the one-way relationship with Cap Metro. The long term effect means keeping sales tax revenue local, retaining more of their hard-earned money through lower property taxes, and attracting healthy economic engines.
Search your subdivision name for your estimated annual cost** of participating in CapMetro (select ‘Next’ to scroll through results):
| SUBDIVISION | 2019 CAP METRO EST. ANNUAL PARTICIPATION COST/HOMEOWNER |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Angel Springs | $ | 606 | |
| Atkin Addition To Leander | $ | 246 | |
| Bagdad Estates | $ | 411 | |
| Benbrook Ranch | $ | 335 | |
| Bluffs At Crystal Falls | $ | 307 | |
| Bluffs at Crystal Falls Sec 2 | $ | 392 | |
| Bluffs at Crystal Falls Sec 3 | $ | 337 | |
| Borho | $ | 396 | |
| Boulders At Crystal Falls | $ | 346 | |
| Bryson | $ | 364 | |
| Cap Rock at Crystal Falls Phs 2 | $ | 485 | |
| Cap Rock at Crystal Falls Phs I | $ | 458 | |
| Carneros Ranch | $ | 320 | |
| Catalina Ranch | $ | 395 | |
| Circle Diamond | $ | 355 | |
| Cold Springs | $ | 324 | |
| Connellys Crossing | $ | 254 | |
| County Glen | $ | 231 | |
| Crystal Crossing | $ | 278 | |
| Deerbrooke | $ | 298 | |
| Enclave At Maya Vista | $ | 238 | |
| Estates Of North Creek | $ | 216 | |
| Fairways at Crystal Falls | $ | 468 | |
| Fairways at Crystal Falls Sec 2 | $ | 521 | |
| Fairways at Crystal Falls Sec 4 | $ | 490 | |
| Fairways at Crystal Falls Sec 5 | $ | 605 | |
| Fairways Phs 1 at Crystal Falls | $ | 450 | |
| Fairways Phs 1-A at Crystal Falls | $ | 499 | |
| Falcon Oaks | $ | 158 | |
| Friske | $ | 143 | |
| Giddens Weskim | $ | 532 | |
| Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls | $ | 513 | |
| Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls Amd | $ | 761 | |
| Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls II | $ | 707 | |
| Grand Mesa III at Crystal Falls | $ | 640 | |
| Grand Mesa III-A at Crystal Falls | $ | 733 | |
| Grand Mesa IV at Crystal Falls | $ | 651 | |
| Greatwood | $ | 423 | |
| Hampton I | $ | 627 | |
| Hawkes Landing Ph 1 | $ | 285 | |
| Hazlewood | $ | 321 | |
| Heritage Glen Sec 1 (Amd) | $ | 267 | |
| Hernandos Hideaway | $ | 233 | |
| Hidden Mesa First | $ | 361 | |
| High Chaparral | $ | 88 | |
| High Gabriel | $ | 488 | |
| Highlands At Crystal Falls | $ | 416 | |
| Highmeadow Estates | $ | 439 | |
| Highway Village | $ | 355 | |
| Horizon Park | $ | 250 | |
| Kittie Hill Acres | $ | 481 | |
| Lakeline Ranch | $ | 286 | |
| Leander Crossing | $ | 249 | |
| Live Oak Ranch | $ | 349 | |
| Magnolia Creek | $ | 267 | |
| Mason Creek | $ | 204 | |
| Mason Creek North | $ | 157 | |
| Mason Ranch | $ | 291 | |
| North Creek | $ | 209 | |
| Northside Meadow | $ | 381 | |
| Oak Creek | $ | 256 | |
| Oak Ridge | $ | 297 | |
| Old Town | $ | 242 | |
| Old Town Village | $ | 263 | |
| Overlook Estates | $ | 593 | |
| Palmera Ridge | $ | 328 | |
| Palmera Ridge | $ | 328 | |
| Pecan Creek | $ | 410 | |
| Pleasant Hill Estate | $ | 456 | |
| Reagans Overlook | $ | 660 | |
| Reagans Overlook | $ | 660 | |
| Ridgeoaks | $ | 235 | |
| Ridgewood North | $ | 210 | |
| Ridgewood South | $ | 253 | |
| Ridgmar Landing | $ | 409 | |
| Sarita Valley | $ | 466 | |
| Savanna Ranch | $ | 291 | |
| South San Gabriel | $ | 361 | |
| Starlight Village Condo | $ | 490 | |
| Stewart Crossing | $ | 281 | |
| Stifflemire | $ | 409 | |
| Tierra Alto Condo | $ | 234 | |
| Tierra North | $ | 225 | |
| Timberline West | $ | 272 | |
| Trails At Leander Condo | $ | 149 | |
| Trails End | $ | 211 | |
| Travisso Phs 1 | $ | 583 | |
| Travisso Phs 2 | $ | 484 | |
| Valley View | $ | 314 | |
| Villas At Vista Ridge | $ | 272 | |
| Vista Ridge | $ | 283 | |
| Westview Meadows | $ | 216 | |
| Westwood | $ | 233 | |
| Wiley Creek Estates | $ | 326 | |
| Woods At Crystal Falls | $ | 254 | |
| Woods At Mason Creek | $ | 254 |
Copyright © 2019 Don Stroud
*U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey/Community Impact Newspaper, March 2019, p. 25
**Average cost per homeowner based upon average assessed value of all homes in each subdivision.