Williamson-Travis Counties MUD No. 1

Cash or borrow: the 2026 bond projects

In 2026 the district sold bonds for five projects: two lift stations, sewer repairs, smart water meters, service line inspections and a water line section. This page compares two ways to pay for the same work. On the borrowing path, bond money pays for the projects and a debt tax repays the bonds through 2052. On the cash path, the General Fund pays for the projects and no debt tax is needed. It starts from the financial advisor's Aug 19 2026 tax numbers and the bond documents. Change any of them to see what happens.

Each button resets every input.

Show:

General Fund reserve, in months of spending

Fiscal years end Sep 30. Actual through FY2025; FY2026 is unaudited; later years are projected.

District tax on the average home, each tax year

Total rate (M&O + debt) times the 2026 average homestead value ($442,244), grown by the value growth you set.

What these settings show

Year-by-year table

Where each number comes from

General Fund balance and spending, FY2018-FY2025: the district's audited financial statements. FY2026: FY2025 balance plus the unaudited FY2026 result (+$821,225) in the bookkeeper's report to the Oct 12 2026 board meeting.
FY2027 spending ($5,202,734): the FY2027 budget, adopted Sep 2026.
Advisor's assumptions: the financial advisor's tax rate report at the Aug 19 2026 board meeting (recording): $888 million taxable value with no growth, 98% collections, debt tax 1.5 cents in 2026 and "would have to grow to 4.4 cents in future years" (the tool applies 4.4 cents from 2027; he did not give the year), total rate held at 27.34 cents. He said 22.94 cents of M&O raises about $2.03 million against $1.93 million needed. He gave no growth rate for costs; his General Fund outlook covered calendar 2027 only and left out capital work.
Balanced budgets: the FY2027 budget is balanced. The tool holds every later year balanced too (a modeling choice, not the advisor's projection); set a yearly budget result to change it.
Project costs and bond payments: the Official Statement for the Series 2026 bonds (uses of proceeds; debt service schedule). Each project's cost includes its share of the 10% contingency and engineering.
Cash path schedule: the engineer's 2024 Facility Assessment five-year plan (Westwood, Sep 18 2024): lift stations and sewer repairs built in FY2026 (designed in 2025). That plan's meter line is $50,000 a year; the tool spreads the bond's smart-meter cost evenly over FY2026-FY2030 instead (a modeling choice). Lift station money already spent in FY2026 ($18,538, Oct 12 2026 bookkeeper report) is counted. Service line inspections are not in that plan; they are placed in FY2027.
Water line: the water line section is in no adopted budget since 2018 and not in the 2024 five-year plan. The bond application report and the Official Statement give no start date. The start year is your choice (default FY2035, after the five-year plan).
Interest on cash: TexPool's monthly average rates by fiscal year through FY2026; 3.87% after (TexPool, Oct 1 2026).
Average home: $442,244, the 2026 average homestead value in the district's tax rate notice.
Election test: Texas Water Code 49.23602. An election is flagged when a year's rate is above both the voter-approval rate and the mandatory tax election rate. Unused increments from past years are not counted, so a flag is a prompt to check, not a finding.

How it works and what it leaves out

Both paths share the same actual history. They split at the Sep 2025 decision to pay for the projects with bonds. On the borrowing path, FY2026 went to issuing the bonds (closed about Sep 30 2026), so the work starts a year later and is paid from bond money. It never touches the General Fund.
Operating budgets balance on both paths. When spending grows, the M&O rate on both paths rises so taxes keep the same share of spending (water and sewer revenue is assumed to grow with it); value growth lowers that rate. Both show on the tax chart and in the election check.
Each path's reserve moves only with project cash, the tax money that path keeps beyond its operating budget and bond payments, your tax changes and the interest on those amounts. On the borrowing path, all debt tax goes to the Debt Service Fund, as the Bond Order requires (Official Statement: the taxes levied for the bonds "shall be deposited as collected in such fund"). The part the bond payments do not need is shown as its own line, not as General Fund reserve.
Balanced budgets hold the reserve's dollars flat, so when spending grows the months of reserve fall on both paths unless taxes or a budget surplus add to it.
Reserve in months = General Fund balance / (that year's General Fund spending / 12).
Not modeled: refinancing or early redemption of the bonds, what the district does with any Debt Service Fund balance (for example lower later debt taxes), and small capital items paid from the General Fund on both paths.
This is an illustration from public records, not district figures. It is not financial or legal advice.

Timing

Cash path starts the work

Right away, on the engineer's 2024 plan (FY2026) A year later, the same delay as the bonds (FY2027)

The borrowing path starts in FY2027 in both cases.

Water line section starts (cash path) 15% design that year, 85% construction the next. No start date is on record.

Future projects not in the bond application (BAR 9)

The bond money is used up, so each project here is paid in cash on both paths: 15% the first year, 85% the next. Each click adds the next water line section 10 years after the latest one, at the bond's section cost, $1,969,435; rename it or change the year and cost for any other project. The chart runs 5 years past the last project.

Taxes

Cash path tax bill

Same total rate as the borrowing path (27.34 cents). The part that would repay bonds (4.4 cents) stays in the General Fund and pays for the work. Lower rate (22.94 cents). With no bonds to repay, the cash path drops that 4.4 cents and pays for the work from savings alone.

Debt tax on the borrowing path

Advisor: 4.4 cents from 2027 (1.5 in 2026). In most years the payments need a little less; the rest stays in the Debt Service Fund, shown on its own line, not in the reserve. Only what each year's bond payment needs (a slightly lower bill on both paths) Same 4.4-cent debt share of the bill as the advisor's plan (more in any year a payment needs more): debt tax is only what each payment needs, and the rest is levied as M&O, so it goes to the General Fund

After the last bond payment (FY2052), the borrowing path keeps the same total rate

Reserve floor (months) Your choice. Drawn as a dashed line; used by the automatic tax options.

Tax changes, borrowing path

Tax changes, cash path

Rates for tax year 2026 are already adopted. Changes start with tax year 2027, which pays for FY2028.

Economy and budget

Taxable value, 2026 ($ millions)Advisor: $888M. Official Statement: $889.9M.

Value growth (% a year)Advisor (Aug 19 2026): 0%, $888M held flat.

Tax collections (%)Advisor: 98%. Official Statement: 95%.

Project price growth after FY2026 (% a year)The advisor gave no growth rate (his outlook covered calendar 2027 only). Applies to work paid in cash; the borrowing path builds at the bond estimates.

General Fund spending growth after FY2027 (% a year)The advisor gave no growth rate. 0 holds the FY2027 budget flat. Growth raises the M&O rate on both paths.

Interest on cash from FY2027 (%)TexPool Oct 1 2026: 3.87%.

Yearly budget result, both paths ($)0 = balanced, as in the FY2027 budget. Positive = surplus.