On Sept. 17, the Leander City Council approved a $453 million budget and voted to maintain the city’s property tax rate of $0.417282 per $100 of property valuation.

The details: Under this budget, the average homeowner's property tax bill will decrease by roughly $102, resulting in an average payment of around $2,092 based on the area's median home valuation of $501,383.

By the numbers:

• Leander's property tax base grew by over $636.8 million, with $552.7 million coming from new development.

• Sales tax revenue is expected to reach $13.8 million, representing a 6.8% increase.

• Funding for general capital projects decreased by 19.1%, or $33 million, while utility capital project spending rose by 30.7%, or $24.9 million.

Looking ahead: The city will hold a second reading of the tax rate on Sept. 22.

Williamson County officials are seeking applications for a new Precinct 1 Constable, following Williamson County Precinct 1 Constable Mickey Chance's resignation, effective Sept. 30.

How it works: The Williamson County Commissioners Court will appoint a new constable to fill the position until the November 2028 election.

Those interested in the position should send their resume and qualifications to [email protected] by Sept. 30 for commissioners to review.

Why it matters: Constables are law enforcement officials elected to four year terms in each precinct. They execute court orders from county and state courts, which most often include arrest warrants, protective orders and evictions, according to county documents.

The new Marriott Hotel and Conference Center next door to NFM and Scheels in north Cedar Park is set to open in April, director of Sales and Marketing Stephanie Shives said.

The details: The hotel, which will be located in the new CedarView development, will have 297 rooms, Shives said. Of those rooms, 17 will be suites.

The conference center will total 30,000 square feet and will feature a variety of meeting rooms and ballrooms, with the largest ballroom being almost 10,000 square feet, she said.

Shives said Marriott chose the location due to a combination of factors, including the tourism that NFM and Scheels are expected to bring and the growing business community in Cedar Park.

“We can really cater to all different kinds of business,” she said. “You have your business travelers, but you also have your youth sports and with this being right in the heart of the CedarView development, there's going to be a ton of foot traffic between Scheels and [NFM] and the restaurants and other retail concepts that are going to be coming to CedarView.”

Here are six trending Austin-area stories from Sept. 14-17.

1. Check out 22 Georgetown-area business updates

2. Cedar Park to build wave pool in $10 million Veterans Memorial Pool expansion

3. Final first days: Pflugerville ISD prepares for 4 school closures, admin cuts

4. Construction on RM 620 widening project may begin in early 2029

5. Round Rock readopts trails master plan identifying new corridors for connectivity

6. Airbnb launches national affordable housing fund with $6.4M Austin investment

Some Texas Republican leaders have vowed to get rid of the property taxes that homeowners pay to their local public school districts, and lawmakers are analyzing how much it would cost to do so.

The big picture: Texas school districts collect about $29 billion per year in maintenance and operations taxes, which cover schools' daily expenses.

Of that $29 billion in school tax revenue, the state comptroller's office estimates that about $8.6 billion is paid by homeowners, and the rest comes from commercial and industrial property taxes.

This means the state would need to spend at least $8.6 billion annually to zero out homeowners' school property tax bills, officials said.

Quote of note: "Broadly speaking, you have a question about how much you want to fund schools, and then separately, where does that money come from?" Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during a Sept. 15 legislative hearing. "If you have a target of how much you want to spend, you need to make sure you have enough variable revenue sources to reach that."