Police and fire spending per resident: Leander vs nearby cities

Police and fire spending per resident: Leander vs nearby cities (DRAFT – not published)

In short

In the year ending Sept. 30, 2025, Leander spent about $398 per resident on public safety (police, fire and related services). Cedar Park spent about $511, Georgetown about $583 and Round Rock about $653. Leander was lowest of the four. The audits do not say why.¹²

The 30-second version

• Leander spends the least per person of these four cities.
• The gap is large. Round Rock spent about 64% more per resident than Leander.²
• Fees and grants change the picture a little. After subtracting fees, grants and contract money tied to public safety, Leander’s net cost was about $380 per resident, Cedar Park about $446, Georgetown about $463 and Round Rock about $639.¹²

The numbers (fiscal 2025)

City	Public safety cost	Residents	Per resident	Net per resident
Leander	$36,979,724	92,872	$398	$380
Cedar Park	$42,963,443	84,156	$511	$446
Georgetown	$67,070,000 (fire $36.5M + police $30.5M)	115,079	$583	$463
Round Rock	$91,088,679	139,436	$653	$639

“Cost” is the public safety expense line in each city’s government-wide statement of activities. “Net” subtracts charges, grants and contributions tied to those services. Population is the figure each city printed in its own audited report.¹²

One year earlier (fiscal 2024), per-resident costs were about $387 (Leander), $509 (Cedar Park), $593 (Georgetown) and $642 (Round Rock). Leander was lowest both years.¹²

Staff per 1,000 residents (fiscal 2025)

Each city’s audited report counts full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees by department. These counts include civilians such as dispatchers and animal control, not just officers and firefighters.³

City	Police staff	Fire staff	Police per 1,000	Fire per 1,000
Leander	117	96.5	1.26	1.04
Cedar Park	147	96	1.75	1.14
Georgetown	153	173	1.33	1.50
Round Rock	299	200	2.14	1.43

Leander had the fewest police and fire staff per resident of the four. Only Round Rock’s report splits out sworn officers: 209, or about 1.50 per 1,000 residents.³

Response times. We did not find response times for all four cities in their audited reports, so we do not compare them.

What the law says

Texas cities are not required to have their own police or fire department, but most do. Cities pay for them mainly from the general fund, which is mostly property and sales tax. Since 2019, a city of Leander’s size generally needs voter approval to raise its operating tax revenue more than 3.5% a year (Tax Code §26.07; the county site’s page on rate limits explains this). Public safety competes with every other general fund service under that limit.⁴

The other side

• Spending is not results. We did not compare response times, crime rates or fire insurance ratings.
• Cities count differently. Georgetown splits fire and police; the others report one line. What sits inside “public safety” (courts, animal control, code enforcement, dispatch) can differ by city.
• Contracts move money around. Georgetown’s fire services brought in about $6.0 million in charges for services and $6.0 million in grants and contributions in 2025. Cedar Park’s fire department serves ESDs 11 and 12 by contract. That raises their gross cost but is partly paid back.²
• Population counts are estimates from each city’s own staff, and Leander grows fast. A city’s spending can lag behind new residents for a year or two.
• Daytime population. Round Rock is a regional job and shopping center, so more people use its services than live there.
• Staff counts are not the same everywhere. Leander’s fire count includes code enforcement and emergency management. Georgetown’s police count here leaves out its municipal court (4 staff). Departments are grouped differently, so small gaps are not a fair comparison.
• Accrual accounting. These numbers include depreciation and pension changes, not just cash spent that year.

Questions to ask

• How many sworn officers per resident does the city report?
• How much of the city’s public safety line is courts, dispatch or animal control?

What you can do

• At budget hearings, ask how many officers and firefighters the city has per 1,000 residents and how response times have changed. See city public safety for the budget side.

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Removed guesses about why Leander spends less, and reworded hedges.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.

What we still don’t know

• Sworn officers per 1,000 residents for Leander, Cedar Park and Georgetown.
• Response times from an official source for each city.
• How much of each city’s line is courts, dispatch or animal control.

Footnotes

1. City of Leander FY2025 ACFR, statement of activities: public safety expenses $36,979,724 (2024: $33,531,198); net (expense) $(35,335,099); demographic table population 92,872 (2024: 86,715). https://emma.msrb.org/P11938164.pdf. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. FY2025 ACFRs, statement of activities and demographic tables. Cedar Park: public safety $42,963,443 (2024 $42,455,627), net $(37,531,670); population 84,156 (2024 83,354). https://emma.msrb.org/P11938602.pdf. Georgetown (in thousands on the summary table; dollars on the statement): fire $36,547,582, charges $6,028,672, grants $5,979,908, net $(24,539,002); police $30,522,037, net $(28,711,370); 2024 fire $34,440K + police $27,367K; population 115,079 (2024 104,163). https://emma.msrb.org/P11940492-P11476103-.pdf. Round Rock: public safety $91,088,679 (2024 $85,294K), net $(89,064,452); population 139,436 (2024 132,927). https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FY25-CORR-Audit-Report.pdf. Per resident = cost ÷ population, rounded. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. FY2025 ACFRs, statistical section, full-time-equivalent employees by function. Leander: police 117.00, fire 96.50 (https://emma.msrb.org/P11938164.pdf). Cedar Park: police 147, fire 96 (https://emma.msrb.org/P11938602.pdf). Georgetown: police administration 5 + field operations 135 + animal services 13 = 153 (municipal court 4 excluded); fire paramedic program 24 + support 23 + emergency services 126 = 173 (https://emma.msrb.org/P11940492-P11476103-.pdf). Round Rock: police officers 209 + civilians 90 = 299; fire firefighters and officers 178 + civilians 22 = 200 (https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FY25-CORR-Audit-Report.pdf). Per 1,000 = staff ÷ population × 1,000, using the populations above. ↩ ↩²

4. Texas Tax Code §26.07 and §26.04 (voter-approval rate, 3.5% for most cities since tax year 2020), as summarized on the county site’s rate-limits page. https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_26.07. ↩