Taylor is growing, improving and has a luminescent future ahead of it.
That was the message from Mayor Brandt Rydell during his annual “State of the city” address at the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon Monday, Feb. 27 at the Taylor Independent School District’s event center.
“In my opinion we are moving into a bright future that represents a golden age for this community that we have not seen in the history of this town,” Rydell said to the sold-out crowd of fellow city leaders and community members.
Winter Storm Mara
Rydell said three out of the four of his addresses have been on the heels of disaster declarations, including during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Winter Storm Uri in 2021 and this year’s ice storm.
Rydell said Winter Storm Uri provided the city with valuable lessons.
“As a city team, there were a lot of after-action reports and meetings on what we could do better going forward, and through the emergency management protocol in communications as well as backup generation, that paid dividends when we had to face Winter Storm Mara here a few weeks ago,” he said.
While Taylor did largely lose electricity during the recent winter storm, due to physical infrastructure being damaged, water was not lost this time, and Rydell recognized the efforts of city staff to keep the citizens informed through social media and other venues.
Due to the extensive fallen limbs from the storm, the city has had to bring on a third party, CTC Disaster Response to help remove them.
“As of today, we have about 11 trucks running continually,” Rydell said. “They have already collected 330,000 cubic yards of debris.”
City budget
Since Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s announcement, Taylor has developed a “vibrant economic climate,” Rydell said and has seen a 270 percent increase in salestax revenue.
“So put another way, last year in February, we collected $680,000,” Rydell said. “This February, we reported collecting $2.5 million.” For this year’s budget, the city was able to reduce the tax rate to the lowest rate since 1999 and increase the exemption per household to $40,000 as well as add a new exemption for disabled persons, and increase compensation levels for city staff, he said.
“The trajectory is very positive,” he said. “For a town that for years has had a lot of needs and land for growth and development, and what we needed to do to address long-standing needs, the problem was we didn’t have resources … this isn’t the cure-all, with the sales-tax-revenue, but it really gets us in a better position to employ other strategies to make some real headway.”
The future
Despite the challenges, Rydell said he was confident that the city would be able to continue to adapt, grow and build on current successes.
“We have a lot going on in Taylor,” Rydell said. “I want to thank my council and my incredible city team. We would not have been able to achieve the success that we have had without their hard work and dedication. We are moving forward as a city at an accelerated rate.”
