en-USes-MX

Announcements

Posted: Feb 6, 2023
Categories: Hot Topics
Comments: 0

by Commissioner Terry Cook

The destruction to our trees is unprecedented, and no area in Williamson County was spared.This is a very difficult time for our residents.

The county has been working overtime to clear streets in the unincorporated parts of Wilco by doing the only thing they legally do - moving the limbs and debris to the sides of the roads. Unfortunately, the county cannot do anything to improve your property, and that includes limb and debris removal.

If your tree limbs or trees fell into the roadway and were chopped up by the County’s Road and Bridge Crews, they will be stacking the wood back in your yard. THE TREE DEBRIS IS YOUR PROPERTY AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO REMOVE; TAKE IT TO THE COUNTY LANDFILL IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF A CITY’S LIMITS. I encourage you to band with your neighbors and hire a hauler to remove the debris if you are not a city resident.

Your first call should be to your home insurance provider.

However, because a local disaster declaration was put out last week, you, as a homeowner and/or business owner, can also report damage to your home or business (not landscape) via the Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool, or iSTAT. Explanation of the iSTAT process can be found HERE. The link to the actual survey is HERE. To be clear, this is a process to assist with damages to your house, not your fence or yard, including the trees.

A disaster declaration could also allow for people with home damage to get some financial assistance, such as low interest loans, for people who are uninsured or underinsured. In order to be eligible, the county must meet a minimum threshold for damage and the state must have a disaster declaration and must meet a minimum threshold for damage.That minimum threshold is being determined as quickly as possible.

To be clear, FEMA is not on the way.  County residents are on their own for the cleanup from the ice no matter what you hear from neighbors or read on social media.

Read more
Posted: Jan 24, 2023
Categories: Events
Comments: 0

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program - information from United Way for Greater Austin

Tax season starts on January 23!

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program offers free tax preparation by IRS-certified volunteers to Wilco residents who generally make $60,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance preparing their own tax returns. These services are free and 100% of the tax refund goes to the customer.

For more information, please log onto: Wilco Free Tax Prep - United Way For Greater Austin - Fight Poverty (unitedwayaustin.org)

  • VITA Site Managers help raise awareness about critical tools like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
  • The EITC is considered the largest federal anti-poverty program in the country, yet one in five eligible families with low income in our community are not receiving it!
  • The EITC increases families’ overall income, and the CTC offers up to $2,000 per child–which can be life-changing.
Read more
Posted: Jan 20, 2023
Categories: Comm 1
Comments: 0

Information from the Williamson County Public Information Office

Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector Larry Gaddes reminds property owners that 2022 property taxes must be paid in full by January 31 to avoid the accrual of penalty and interest.  

The most common payment options include:   

  • Mail payments to 904 S. Main St., Georgetown, TX, 78626.   
  • Payments made by check can be placed in any of our exterior drop boxes at each tax office.
  • Payments can be made by searching for your property online at www.wilco.org/propertytaxCredit cards and e-checks are accepted but incur additional vendor fees.   
  • In person at all four locations, walk-in or by appointment
    www.wilco.org/taxoffice/appointment

 For a complete list of payment choices, go to www.wilco.org/propertytax and click on PAYMENT OPTIONS.   

Read more
Posted: Jan 19, 2023
Categories: Hot Topics
Comments: 0

Column by Commissioner Cook

Williamson County Commissioner Terry Cook fully supports the City of Round Rock, the Texas Department of Transportation and Williamson County partnering on a project on RM 620 to add overpasses at Chisholm Trail and Lake Creek Drive, a roundabout at RM 620 and Chisholm Trail beneath the new overpass (partially completed), widened lanes, new frontage roads and improved bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. The overpasses will separate local traffic from through traffic, allowing through traffic to pass over the railroad tracks. Texas Department of Transportation

We’ve rung in the new year – 2022 left us tired, ragged, but hopeful that the worst is behind us. This is the time of year when many become introspective – who are we? Who do we want to be? Stronger, leaner, more resilient, more learned individuals perhaps? How long does that last? What are our values?

Mahatma Ghandi once stated that “we should watch our thoughts for they become our words, manage and watch our words for they become our actions. Consider and judge our actions for they become our habits. Acknowledge and watch our habits for they shall become our values. Understand and embrace our values, for they become our destiny.”

Williamson County is doing just that in developing a strategic plan, with the guidance of SBrand Solutions consultants, not to establish goals for just one year, but to establish and implement strategies to accomplish them over one, five, 10 years or longer. In Ghandi’s observations, values drive destinies. We will be developing the framework to hone our vision, mission and values supported by strategies to reach measurable results for short-, medium- and long-term goals.

Read more
Posted: Dec 15, 2022
Categories: Hot Topics
Comments: 0

Column by Commissioner Cook

Aerial view of Round Rock. As Williamson County cities, such as Round Rock, and their extraterritorial jurisdictions continue to grow, it brings more demands for services and infrastructure from county and city leaders. Courtesy city of Round Rock

With 2023 a few weeks away, what will it hold for Williamson County? Well, let me shake my snow globe crystal ball for a preview.

The guarantees

The 88th Texas legislative session will begin in January, resulting in information overload with bills that hurt us and bills that help us. The part-time status of our Legislature runs at such a quick clip every two years that many bills are not thoroughly vetted prior to becoming law. It would be so nice to have a full-time Legislature allowing more appropriate time to thoroughly vet proposed bills.

In the last session, legislators attempted to prevent local county governments from having “hired guns” at the Lege each day watching for negative bills and speaking up for local governments to help us at the county level. Our Texas Association of Counties is magnificent in lobbying and educating those willing to listen in the Legislature. What goes on at the capital is a major time drain for us in local government. 

Water shortages abound and wastewater treatment plants are expanding across the county to appropriately handle the volume from all our growth. Vigilance on the part of our water plant managers has provided for clear streams despite reduced volume of water flow and increased output from wastewater plants — not perfectly, but with intense scrutiny and vigilant teams. Our past has relied on municipalities to acquire water and rural areas to drill wells. 

Our present population means scarce availability of both surface and ground water. The Brazos River Authority, serving most of Wilco, reports 99.9% of its water is spoken for. As for underground water, we do have the Edwards Aquifer in the narrow Balcones Fault area in Wilco, but the vast majority of our county and wells are in the expansive Trinity Aquifer zone, which lacks the support of limestone to rapidly catch and carry water. The Trinity only recharges with 4% of the rainfall as it has layers of clay for water to pass through and needs underground fault lines for storage.

In an Oct. 27, 2017, San Antonio Express News article, Robert R. Puente, San Antonio’s Water System’s president and CEO since May 2008, the longest-serving leader of one of the nation's largest utilities delivering water and wastewater services to more than 1.8 million customers, said, “Buyer, beware, because that Trinity (Aquifer) is very unpredictable. Well, actually it is predictable. In a drought, you can’t rely on it.”

That easterly moving major drought line has now come to roost in Williamson County. That and the additional wells being drilled are wreaking havoc for existing well users in Wilco.

Housing shortages abound, whether affordable houses or apartment units, especially more affordable rental units. We have limited infrastructure in place, primarily within municipal city limits. 

Read more
RSS
135678910Last

Theme picker