What is Georgetown doing that Kyle isn’t

I was struck by a story on the front page of the Metro Section in today’s Austin American Statesman (subscription required) concerning the city of Georgetown’s proposed budget. And, of course, I couldn’t help but compare it to the recently proposed budget for Kyle.

Georgetown is adding 37.5 jobs to the city, 15 more than Kyle. Georgetown’s budget covers the issuing of the first $20 million of the $105 million road bonds approved by voters in 2014. Kyle is issuing all the bonds for its road program at one time, but that figure is still $7 million below Georgetown’s first phase.

Yet is Georgetown not raising its tax rate. It’s keeping it at $.43 per $100 valuation, 18 cents below the rate Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers is recommending.

Why the difference?

I really don’t know but I have a suspicion it’s because Georgetown’s commercial sector is far more robust than Kyle’s. While Kyle has to rely primarily on homeowners to foot the property tax bill, Georgetown has a far more equitable ratio of commercial to homeowner. And yet, from what I can see from Kyle’s proposed budget, city leaders are actually scaling back on their economic development efforts.

Here are some numbers that gave me the hint Georgetown is more balanced than Kyle, which seems determined to remain a "bedroom community."

The number one industry is Georgetown is construction, which accounts for 16 percent of business activity. In Kyle, it’s retail at 15 percent. The median per capita income for a resident of Georgetown is $31,897, but only $24,811 in Kyle. The average time it takes for a Georgetown resident to commute to his or her workplace is 24.1 minutes. In Kyle, it’s 33.6 minutes. And although I could not find a comparable number for Kyle (I have asked the city if it has those statistics), 44.4 percent of employed residents of Georgetown also work in Georgetown,. I have a sneaking suspicion that number is considerably lower here. And here’s the biggest giveaway: Georgetown’s daytime population is 8.2 percent higher than its nighttime population. I am also seeking similar numbers from Kyle City Hall.

Yes, Georgetown is almost twice the population of Kyle, but that gap is narrowing. And yes, Georgetown has its own airport, a well respected liberal arts university and has a land area about four times the size of Kyle.

But still …