HIPPO BITES

Little bits of big news

New leaders move up at school district

HUTTO — Hutto Independent School District announced three changes to their leadership team for the coming school year.

Jennifer Robinson has been named to replace Ryan Winkelmann as principal of Hutto Elementary School. Robinson was previously an elementary school principal at Copperas Cove Independent School District.

“I’m very excited to join Hippo Nation, and I’m looking forward to inspiring excellence among the students and staff,” said Robinson. “I believe with the support of the community, we’ll continue to foster a culture of growth that is seen beyond the classroom walls.”

Keith Reynolds has been promoted to director of technology to replace David Oestreicher. Reynolds has been with the district since 2014 and before the promotion was serving as Hutto ISD’s senior infrastructure administrator. He has extensive knowledge of technology and worked with the district’s IT team to coordinate the installation of more than 28 miles of new fiber optic cable and networking equipment, among other IT projects he managed.

“I’m thrilled to step into the role of director of technology at Hutto ISD and look forward to collaborating closely with our teachers to ensure they have the technical resources necessary to educate and inspire our students,” said Reynolds. “Together, we’ll create a learning environment that prepares our students for the future.”

Dustin Barton, Ed. D., will be serving as the districts assistant superintendent of operations starting in July. He has more than 25 years serving as a teacher, coach, campus administrator and superintendent of schools. His previous position was assistant superintendent of finance and operations at Caddo Mills Independent School District.

“I am very excited about joining a team of dedicated staff and educators and to be a part of the wonderful things happening in Hutto ISD,” said Dr. Barton. “It is easy to see that Hutto ISD has placed students first in its efforts to provide new and updated school facilities to meet future growth.”

Council considers five-year capital improvement strategy

City Engineer Matt Rector presented an updated Capital Improvement Project fiveyear plan to city council at its June 6 meeting. The strategy contained a list of projects the city is working on, updated from fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to FY 2025 through 2029.

The number of projects on the five-year list decreased from 172 total projects to 153 projects, but the total project cost increased from over $1.3 billion to more than $1.5 billion.

Capital improvement projects include buildings and facilities, parks and trails, streets and drainage, water and wastewater.

Rector said some projects were moved to start later to allow council to fund them through future bonds if they chose to do that.

“Last year was the first year that we developed a five-year CIP and council wasn’t able to receive that until effectively the end of the budgeting project,” said City Manager James Earp.

He said they started the process earlier this year to give council a chance to look at and evaluate the projects.

“When that list gets massaged between now and the end of July, that effectively is setting your debt plan for the budget year. So by the time you get done with whatever is in the FY 25 column, that’ll be the amount of debt that we need to issue so that all gets built into the budget,” Earp said.

Mayor Pro Tem Peter Gordon explained that the projects would need to be prioritized by desirability and affordability, and they would be included as part of the budget discussions in July and August.

Mayor Mike Snyder was also concerned about projects totaling over a billion dollars, and the public’s willingness to increase their property taxes to support them.

“At some point we’re going to approve it and they’re going to storm this building and drag us out of here,” he said. “You may be wasting your time doing all this work only to find out the public doesn’t want to pay (so much in) taxes.”