Here are 13 local business updates Cedar Park residents should know about this September.

NOW OPEN
Scheels: The employee-owned sporting goods store is now open in the CedarView development in north Cedar Park. In addition to shopping, visitors to Scheels can ride a 65-foot indoor Ferris wheel, view roughly 600 fish in a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, and visit a candy shop and a cafe.

Dribble Soccer: The indoor soccer facility is open to all skill levels and hosts both recreational and competitive adult leagues. Dribble Soccer also offers “coach-led homeschool programs” and skill clinics, a statement from the business said.

VIP Furbabies: Pet daycare and boarding service VIP Furbabies is now open in Cedar Park, owner Jeff Brubaker said. The locally-owned business offers daycare, boarding and spa services for cats and dogs, according to its website. VIP Furbabies prioritizes being “safe, clean, loving and genuinely fun,” the website says.

Here are three local government stories making an impact on Cedar Park residents in September.

1. Cedar Park leaders aim to maintain city services in face of inflation, decreasing taxable property values: Cedar Park officials are advancing a $216 million budget that would raise the average homeowner’s annual property tax bill by $49.

2. City Council establishes advisory task force for potential 2027 bond program: Cedar Park City Council members voted to establish a bond advisory task force to identify projects for inclusion in a potential 2027 bond program at the Aug. 13 City Council meeting.

3. Williamson County adopts no-new-revenue tax rate: Williamson County commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2026-27 budget and tax rate Sept. 1. The $712.94 million budget is supported by a tax rate of $0.421547 per $100 valuation, the no-new-revenue tax rate.

Austin is continuing its expanded outreach and enforcement of public encampments that ramped up this spring and has since cleared dozens of sites across the city.

The details: Earlier this year, Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations announced it would be sending out more city crews on a regular basis to address encampments in public areas. That new Homeless Encampment Management, or HEM, program started in May and led to hundreds of site visits citywide in its first month. Dozens of people were connected to shelter or services in that time.

The first 30 days of HEM cost just over $719,000, the majority of which went to city employee and contractor pay. Those costs largely fell under ongoing camping enforcement, officials said, and the program doesn't represent significant new spending.

A new public mapping tool is now live online allowing residents to see where encampments are being cleared and monitored, and the city will share more data on the program later this year.

A data center in Hutto, the Texas Municipal Center in Georgetown and a 7 Brew in Austin are among the five most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Colovore Hutto ($280 million): This project involves the construction of a 192,694-square-foot, one-story data center building.

2. Texas Municipal Center ($60 million): The Texas Municipal League will be relocating its headquarters to downtown Georgetown.

3. Frontier ER ($2 million): This project involves the construction of a freestanding emergency medical facility.

4. C Store ($1.2 million): A new C store convenience store is coming to Bastrop, with construction expected to conclude next September. 

5. 7 Brew ($400,000): A new 7 Brew location will be coming to Austin. The drive-thru coffee shop has locations in Manor and Round Rock.

On Sept. 1, the State Board of Education moved forward with an overhaul of what Texas high schoolers will learn in four social studies courses: U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History and World Geography.

What's happening: Roughly 100 Texans testified about the high school curriculum rewrite at an Aug. 31 meeting, with the debate revolving around how students would learn about the two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam.

Dozens of Muslim Texans asked that students learn about the religion’s core principles and how Muslims have contributed to advancements in math, science and medicine throughout history.

Some testifiers said the social studies curriculum should highlight the role of Christianity in the founding of Texas and the U.S., praising the board for prioritizing “American exceptionalism” and topics that they said would teach students to love the country.

The context: The discussion comes as the Republican-led board nears the finish line on its new K-12 social studies curriculum standards.

If approved, the new requirements will be rolled out to public school classrooms in the 2030-31 school year.