Where does the City of Leander keep its cash?

In short

• Leander held about $419 million in cash and investments in Sept. 2025. A year earlier it held about $282 million.¹²
• About 74% sat in TexPool, a pool for local governments run under the state comptroller.¹
• About $261 million was set aside for set uses. Most of it is borrowed money for building projects.³

Related: city savings cushion · city debt explained · city 2025 certificates of obligation · water and sewer fund health

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

What the city holds

Sept. 30, 2025	Amount	Share	Average days to maturity
TexPool (state-run pool)	$310,954,756	74.24%	31
U.S. Treasury notes	$42,046,484	10.04%	164
Federal agency notes	$35,495,681	8.47%	331
Money market funds (two lines)	$14,150,446	3.38%	1
TexStar (another pool)	$10,325,392	2.47%	30
Certificates of deposit	$4,463,703	1.07%	127
Bank accounts	$1,437,261	0.34%	1
Total	$418,873,723

Source: the city’s fiscal 2025 annual financial report, Note 2. Money market lines combined (our math).¹⁴

• About 80% can be drawn on within a day (our math). That counts the two pools, money market funds and bank accounts. The pools let the city take money out daily, with one day’s notice.¹⁴
• State law limits what the city can buy. The city may buy only the types listed in state law and its policy, such as U.S. government notes and highly rated pools, and no single holding may run longer than three years.¹
• The city keeps its average holding short. Its policy caps the average at two years.¹
• All rated holdings were rated AAA. Certificates of deposit are not rated.¹

How it changed in a year

• The total grew by about $137 million (our math).¹²⁴
• Money set aside for building rose from about $40 million to about $163 million in the city’s main funds. It is described as “bond proceeds.”³⁵
• The pool share went up a lot. TexPool held 39.85% a year earlier, and 74.24% in 2025.¹²

Money set aside for set uses

Sept. 30, 2025	Amount
Building projects, paid with borrowed money	$162,595,422
Water and sewer building projects	$93,655,992
Water and sewer debt payments	$5,024,729
Total	$261,276,143

Source: Note 3.³

• That is about 62% of all cash and investments (our math). The report lists it as restricted, so it is not spare money for day-to-day costs.³⁴

The other side

• A big balance is not a surplus. Most of the rise is borrowed money held for building projects, which rose by about $122 million (our math).³⁵⁴
• Interest earned fell even as cash grew. Citywide investment earnings were $13,388,804 in fiscal 2025, down from $16,325,826. The report says this was mainly due to market changes and lower market values.⁶
• The report does not say why the city moved so much into TexPool.

Questions to ask

• How fast does the city plan to spend the borrowed money it is holding?
• How does the city decide how much of its holdings go into a pool?

What we still don’t know

• How the holdings looked after Sept. 30, 2025. City investment reports could show this; we have not saved them.

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Rewrote the questions to ask so each is open, neutral and addressed to the public body.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Title matched to the other cash pages; added a note that the balance is not a surplus.
• Nov. 2, 2026: New page.

Footnotes

1. City of Leander, Texas, Annual Financial Report for fiscal 2025, Note 2, “Cash and Investments,” pp.41-44: holdings at Sept. 30, 2025 (carrying value, share, weighted average maturity in days, rating): bank accounts/CDs $1,437,261, 0.34%, 1, AAA; BOK Financial money market funds $3,469,236, 0.83%, 1, AAA; money market funds $10,681,210, 2.55%, 1, AAA; TexPool $310,954,756, 74.24%, 31, AAA; TexStar $10,325,392, 2.47%, 30, AAA; certificate of deposit $4,463,703, 1.07%, 127, N/A; federal agency coupon securities $35,495,681, 8.47%, 331, AAA; Treasury coupon securities $42,046,484, 10.04%, 164, AAA; total $418,873,723. Policy: maximum stated maturity three years; portfolio weighted average maturity limited to two years; pools have a one-day redemption notice and may redeem daily; TexPool overseen by the State Comptroller. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. City of Leander, Texas, Annual Financial Report for fiscal 2024, Note 2: total cash and investments $282,339,429 at Sept. 30, 2024; TexPool $112,498,604, 39.85%. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Fiscal 2025 report, Note 3, “Restricted Cash and Investments”: capital projects, bond proceeds $162,595,422; utility construction $93,655,992; utility debt service $5,024,729; total $261,276,143. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Our math. Money market lines: 3,469,236 + 10,681,210 = 14,150,446 (0.83% + 2.55% = 3.38%). Growth: 418,873,723 − 282,339,429 = 136,534,294. Same-day share: 74.24 + 2.47 + 3.38 + 0.34 = 80.43%. Restricted share: 261,276,143 ÷ 418,873,723 = 62.4% Bond-proceeds rise: 162,595,422 − 40,311,399 = 122,284,023.. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Fiscal 2024 report, Note 3: capital projects, bond proceeds $40,311,399; total restricted $145,106,019. ↩ ↩²

6. Fiscal 2025 report, management’s discussion: investment earnings, governmental $7,316,866 (2024: $10,483,314), business-type $6,071,938 (2024: $5,842,512), total $13,388,804 (2024: $16,325,826); “This decrease is primarily a result of changes in the market and the decrease of fair market values in 2025 compared to 2024.” ↩