Hutto City Council Highlights from 5/7/26 Meeting

This will be the last time we get a summary of City Council meetings from Peter Gordon. We want to take this moment to say thank you for his service, his love of this community, and the transparency he brought to City Council. It will surely be missed.

Council took two separate actions regarding our Wastewater boundary. One was to approve staff to work with a light industrial developer (Opus Development) who wants to be added to our WW boundary, and a second action was to allow the City of Round Rock to take over a section of our boundary that is near Red Bud Lane, too far away for Hutto to easily serve.

Council approved $20,000 from our Hotel Occupancy Tax fund to go toward the City's Sesquicentennial Celebration activities, with additional matching funds when the Committee is able to secure additional private funding. The Committee gave a great presentation on the planned activities, which include historical markers and information, murals, and a big culmination event to be held in November at Adam Orgain Park.

Council approved a cost sharing agreement for a new traffic signal to be installed on FM 1660 North and Main Hippo Drive. The Hutto ISD will install the signal and the city will contribute funds toward the project.

Council received recommendations from Planning & Zoning regarding the 5-year Capital Improvement Plan projects. Council will use this information to inform final decisions made during the budget process later this year.

A large number of residents from the Hutto Youth Baseball Softball Association (HYBSA) came to speak regarding their concerns about the current working relationship with the City and Mayor, stemming from concerns about the availability and status of the baseball fields. It was determined that a City Council work session in June will be dedicated to discussing this further, and to see if any adjustments to the current agreement might be made to better accommodate their desires to work better with the City.

Council directed staff to look at funding a sound study for datacenters, to get an accurate picture of what could be expected from any future datacenters that are being built in Hutto, or might be built in the future.

In one of our final actions of the night, Council unanimously approved a new sales tax sharing agreement with Hutto Fire Rescue (ESD #3) to clarify past inconsistencies and establish clear boundaries of what properties will be affected. In essence, any sales tax collected on properties annexed into the city after 2016 will be shared between the City and ESD #3 at a 60/40 split, with the City receiving 60% of the taxes collected. This is a 10 year agreement, renewable at the end of the term. The ESD #3 also agreed to pay the city a lump sum payment of $750,000.00 for past collections owed to the City, with all future payments coming directly from the Comptroller's office.

The last two votes were to direct the EDC to prioritize development of their own fire station at a location to be determined, and to also begin the process to purchase a "fire apparatus" (fire truck). This was not an agenda item, and it was unclear to me why the EDC would need to use sales tax dollars to create a competing fire department, especially in light of the agreement we had just passed with the ESD #3, so I was a no vote on both of those motions.

I was also honored to have been recognized by City staff at the beginning of the meeting for my service on Council. I was touched by the thoughtful remarks from staff and fellow council members.

This will be my last update, as my successor Corina Zepeda will be sworn-in at the beginning of the May 21st meeting. I have been grateful for the seven years of service I have been allowed to give as a City Councilman, and wish Council person Zepeda the very best as she embarks on her term of service!