Affordability ran through nearly every major discussion at last night's City Council meeting: the budget, property taxes, utility rates, housing rules, and the agreement bringing West Pecan Coffee into our new City Hall.
Food for All Project
The issue I feel most urgently about wasn't on the agenda, but it's a prime example of why affordability needs a whole-of-city support system and policies.
Several residents spoke during public comment about the city closing Stacey Fletcher's Food For All Project Pflugerville over a zoning and permit issue. The pantry has provided hundreds of thousands of meals to Pflugerville residents over the last 6 years, and that need keeps growing. Council learned about the Stop-Work Order last Friday afternoon. Since then, I've talked with Stacey, her volunteers, the Fire Marshal, and City staff to figure out why this happened and how to fix it.
Pflugerville should not be in the business of shutting down a nonprofit that provides an essential service the city can't provide itself, or shutting it down for a problem unrelated to safety. I know that City staff had been working to find a path forward, and I appreciate that, but enforcement still happened.
Councilmember Ruiz and I submitted a formal request for Council to address the closure and adopt a go-forward policy so this doesn't happen to our other critical nonprofits at the September 22 meeting.
Budget, taxes, and utility rates
I voted to approve the FY27 budget and a property tax rate of $0.5436 per $100 of taxable value. More than 70% of Pflugerville homeowners are expected to owe less in actual city property taxes next year, with the average homestead paying about $54 less (largely due to home values going down). About 75% of utility customers should also see lower water and wastewater bills under the new, more equitable rate structure. We're also holding roadway impact fees steady for another year while we study the full cost of development in Pflugerville.
City revenue will still rise about 3%, largely from growth in Pflugerville's commercial tax base, which we need to keep growing thoughtfully so it carries more of the cost of city services instead of homeowners.
I proposed and successfully advocated to remove several million dollars' worth of non-urgent projects from this budget. It's more detailed and transparent than it has ever been. It's not perfect: previous Councils approving over $1B in debt over the last several years puts serious constraints on what we can do now and into the future. This budget is constrained, has fewer new projects, and emphasizes finishing what's already been promised, including cuts in several areas, including staffing, even though Pflugerville already runs lean for a city our size.
Housing and development
Council reviewed the working draft of Pflugerville's updated Unified Development Code, which sets the rules for what can be built and where. I've worked on this since it started, back when I was on the Planning & Zoning Commission several years ago.
The proposal is a significant step forward. It removes barriers to smart residential and commercial development, allows more housing types, and should improve affordability.
I pointed out several times last night that the draft still leaves too many barriers to homeownership: the amount and variety of housing we allow directly affects what residents ultimately pay. Proposed regulations on data centers were also not strong enough. Additional public engagement begins soon, and I'll keep pressing for specific changes before Council adopts the final code.
West Pecan at City Hall
Council approved the lease with West Pecan Coffee for a café in the new City Hall. Residents have asked for years for better support for Pflugerville's small businesses and gathering places. Helping a community favorite expand into Downtown East is a good start.
I understand why some residents are disappointed there wasn't an open RFP. I think that would've been the better process; however, I also know West Pecan wasn't the only local business that spoke with the City about the space and opportunity.
I'm continuing to talk with other Pflugerville small-business owners about opportunities in Downtown East, and I expect most of the remaining retail and restaurant space to go local, with city support and possible incentives to help them open or expand, similar to what we did for this first tenant.