The results are in from the most recent resident survey, which is done every two years by the City of Georgetown to guide planning, budgeting, projects, and services.

The Texas State University Center for Public Policy, Research, and Training conducted the survey in October 2020. The anonymous survey is intended to measure the perceptions of residents. The survey was mailed to 2,000 households in Georgetown and 425 residents responded. The margin of error was 5 percent.

In addition to the mailed survey, an open survey was shared online with 767 residents responding. Since the demographics of the two surveys were similar, the results from the two surveys were merged. The total number of responses was 1,192 and the margin of error was 3 percent.

“We are grateful for this feedback from our residents who took the survey,” City Manager David Morgan said. “The City does this survey every two years to listen to our residents to find out where we are succeeding and other places where we need to improve. The results are invaluable in helping us determine priorities for budgets and operations.”

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic affected city services in 2020 and was likely a factor in how residents experienced and perceived city programs and services.

Here are some highlights from the merged survey results.

Ninety percent of residents said the overall quality of life in Georgetown was good or excellent and 65 percent said for city taxes paid, the value of city services was good or excellent. These compare to 98 percent and 81 percent, respectively, in the 2018 resident survey.

The survey found when residents were asked about city services, these percentages of residents gave a rating of good or excellent:

• Fire and EMS services: 97 percent
• Police services: 91 percent
• Library: 94 percent
• Garbage collection: 91 percent
• Recycling: 82 percent
• Water service: 75 percent
• Electric service: 66 percent

The survey also asked about perceptions of safety. Respondents reported safety as good or excellent for these areas or services:

• In their neighborhood in daytime: 95 percent
• In their neighborhood after dark: 83 percent
• In city parks: 79 percent
• At shopping centers: 84 percent
• On the downtown square: 91 percent
• In recreational waters: 69 percent
• For drinking water: 74 percent

Traffic continues to be a top concern for residents. In rating traffic flow on major streets, only 20 percent said it was good or excellent with 43 percent who said it was fair and 37 percent who said it was poor.

An open-ended question in the survey asked residents to identify their top priorities. The most frequent top priorities mentioned were crime/safety/police, growth management, water, electric bills/utilities, and parks/trails/bike lanes/sidewalks.

Survey results are used to inform the annual budget process as well as capital improvement plans and changes to city services.

To see the complete results, go to the 2020 City of Georgetown Resident Survey Report.

An annual report for the City of Georgetown for the 2020 fiscal year is now available online and in print copies. The report is for the 2020 fiscal year that started Oct.1, 2019, and ended Sept. 30, 2020.

The report highlights projects and initiatives and includes key metrics for city services. It is available online here.

A limited number of free printed copies of the annual report are available at City Hall, 808 Martin Luther King, Jr. St.; Georgetown Municipal Complex, 300-1 Industrial Ave.; Recreation Center, 1003 N. Austin Ave.; and Visitors Center, 103 W. Seventh St.

Chelsea Solomon has been selected as Georgetown’s new Director of Water Utilities, following the retirement of Glenn Dishong in December. After an extensive, nationwide search, Solomon was selected from several qualified applicants to serve in the role. Solomon previously served as manager of the control center, which monitors and controls the City’s water and electric infrastructure 24 hours a day.

Solomon has worked for the City since 2014 when she was hired as a utility engineer. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. She brings more than 19 years of water infrastructure engineering experience in the public and private sectors. She holds a professional engineer certification from the State of Texas and is a Certified Floodplain Manager.

“As a Georgetown resident and member of the team, I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done in the control center, and I’m excited to bring my experience and passion to this new role,” Solomon said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to grow the Water Utility’s services and employees so we can serve Georgetown residents as efficiently as possible.”

Solomon will oversee a dynamic water utility that currently spans a more than 440-square-mile service area and more than 43,000 water accounts. She will focus on providing excellent service delivery with a team of 77 employees, while addressing the construction of more than $175 million of infrastructure during the next five years to address current and expected growth. She will be working with the City Council, city management, and the Brazos River Authority on long-range water supply planning.

“Chelsea has been an integral member of our team from her first day with the City, and we’re honored to have her as the Water Utility’s new leader,” City Manager David Morgan said. “Her technical expertise along with her dedication to employee development and customer satisfaction will be extremely valuable as we ensure the Water Utility addresses growth and long-term water planning needs.”

Prior to serving Georgetown, Solomon worked in the private sector, designing water and wastewater projects for public utilities, most notably for the City of Austin and the San Antonio Water System.

Williamson County has set up a call center to serve as a resource for residents interested in COVID-19 vaccine information. The call center number is 512-943-1600.

The call center is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call center representatives can assist individuals with information such as how to sign up on the Family Hospital Systems vaccine waitlist by walking them through the process over the phone, confirm that someone is on the waitlist, give information about the County’s vaccine plan, and share details on the County’s Vaccine Registration Technical Assistance (VRTA) sites.

For more information, go to Williamson County Call Center for COVID-19 Vaccine Information.

Update: Williamson County announced Jan. 31 that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has permitted bars in the County to open at 50 percent capacity.

Williamson County was notified Jan. 30 by the Texas Department of State Health Services that it is no longer in a high hospitalization area. Since the COVID-19 hospitalization rate has been under 15 percent for seven consecutive days, the capacity at specified businesses can increase from 50 percent to 75 percent in Williamson County, including Georgetown.

See details: Williamson County at Williamson County No Longer a High Hospitalization Area

Georgetown electric utility customers will see a decrease to the power cost adjustment, or PCA, on their monthly electric bills starting with their January 2021 energy consumption.

The City is decreasing the PCA charge by $0.01 per kilowatt hour, resulting in a new PCA of $0.01375 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from $0.02375 per kWh. Georgetown customers will see the change reflected on their January energy consumption, which will be billed in February. For a residential customer whose monthly average consumption is 1,000 kWh, the change to the PCA charge will result in a reduction of $10 per month.

The PCA is a tool widely used by electric utilities to help recover costs above the projected budget. The PCA charge is in addition to the regular charge per kilowatt hour for energy. The main energy charge, which for residential customers is $0.0958 per kilowatt hour, will remain the same.

“We have worked diligently in the past two years to improve the electric utility’s management and financial position,” Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder said. “We are starting to see the positive results in the form of improved electric fund position, which lets us lower the PCA for our customers. Our work isn’t done, but I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and know we’ll continue to do everything we can to lessen the burden on our customers.”

The electric fund has recovered enough for the utility to be able to provide this rate relief to customers due to several steps the City has taken in the past two years, including the following:

• Restructuring utility staff, including hiring a new general manager, Daniel Bethapudi.
• Improving energy portfolio management practices, including consistent and disciplined risk-management practices outlined in the new risk management policy.
• Bringing on better expertise to manage a complex energy portfolio. Shell Energy North America, Crescent Power, and ACES Power work in close collaboration with the electric utility staff to manage the energy portfolio.
• Increasing focus on additional revenue streams and revenue assurance to improve the overall financial position. This work includes selling Renewable Energy Credits and better cost recovery related to infrastructure additions.
• Adopting electric utility financial best practices that improved financial performance and flexibility.
• Conducting a strategic review of electric utility business functions to identify opportunities to for cost reductions. This review resulted in the sale of substation assets, which reduced overall operating costs and cash infusion.

The electric fund ended Fiscal Year 2020 with a reserve of $28.4 million, which compares to an ending reserve of $5.9 million in FY 2019. The ending fund balance for FY 2020 is healthy, and the utility meets all City budgetary and fiscal reserve requirements. The electric fund expects additional cost reductions when two energy contracts with Mercuria expire in 2021.

For more information, please visit gus.georgetown.org/electric.