Where the City of Leander's money comes from

In short

• Income for regular city services, 2025: about $162.6 million.¹
• Property tax: $68.4 million, about 42% (our math).¹
• Streets, pipes and grants from others: $45.1 million, about 28% (our math). Most of this was not cash. It was streets and drainage that builders built and gave to the city.¹
• Sales tax: $12.3 million, about 8% (our math).¹

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

How it works

• This page covers regular city services. That means police, fire, streets, parks and city offices. Water and sewer have their own money, paid from your utility bill. See water and sewer.¹
• Property tax is the biggest cash source. The city sets a rate. The county appraisal district sets the value.¹
• Builders give the city streets and pipes. When a new neighborhood is built, the builder often builds the streets and drains and hands them to the city. The audit counts these as income, even though no cash changes hands.¹

The numbers (year ending Sept. 30, 2025)

Type of income	Amount	Share (our math)
Property taxes	$68.4M	42.1%
Capital grants and gifts (mostly streets and drains from builders)	$45.1M	27.7%
Sales and other taxes	$17.8M	10.9%
Charges for services	$16.9M	10.4%
Interest earnings	$7.3M	4.5%
Operating grants	$3.5M	2.2%
Special assessments and other	$3.6M	2.2%
Total	$162.6M	100%

Source: the city’s audit, summary of changes in net position, governmental activities.¹

Deep dive

• Without the gifts of streets and pipes, property tax is more than half. The audit lists $41.2 million of donated city assets. Take those out and the city took in about $121.4 million. Property tax was about 56% of that (our math).¹
• Sales tax is the second-biggest tax. It brought in $12.3 million. See sales tax.¹
• Interest earnings fell. They dropped $3.2 million from 2024, the audit says, because of market changes.¹

The other side

• Gifts of streets are not free forever. The city must fix and replace them later. The audit does not say what that will cost.
• The donated amount moves a lot. Builder gifts go up and down with how much is being built.¹
• This is one year. A single year can look different from the next.

Questions to ask

• How much will the donated streets and drains cost to keep up, by the city’s estimate?
• Where does the city post its revenue by source each year?

What you can do

• Read the city budget to see what it expects to collect next year. See the city budget.
• Ask the council how it plans to pay for upkeep of streets that builders hand over.

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.

What we still don’t know

• How much the donated streets and drains will cost to keep up over time.

Footnotes

1. City of Leander, Annual Financial Report, year ended Sept. 30, 2025: summary of changes in net position, governmental activities (charges $16,884,529; operating grants $3,517,819; capital grants and contributions $45,053,261; property taxes $68,437,006; special assessments $1,814,150; other taxes $17,800,784; investment earnings $7,316,866; other $1,782,186; total $162,606,601); Statement of Activities (sales taxes $12,325,778); reconciliation (contributed capital assets $41,230,804); MD&A notes on interest and developer contributions. Our math: each line ÷ $162,606,601; $162,606,601 − $41,230,804 = $121,375,797; $68,437,006 ÷ $121,375,797 = 56.4%. Public copy: https://emma.msrb.org/P11938164.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²