BY BROOKE SJOBERG
Breaking it down
The outlook
Ocials have leveraged economic development agreements and the city’s business-friendly reputation to bring high-skilled and high-paying jobs to the area, Morgan said. He said he likes to see businesses oer health insurance to their employees, capital investment in facilities and other benets to the community. “When someone approaches [City Council] to start a negotiation, we look at the factors that we want to see,” Morgan said. “We want to see high wages so that if [employees] choose to work here, they can live here.” Capital investment by businesses benets residents, he said, because about 7% of the city’s taxable property is commercial. That 7% gener- ates about 46% of the city’s overall property tax revenue, reducing the property tax burden on homeowners. “If we didn’t have that 7%, our citizens would pay higher taxes,” Morgan said.
Education institutions have also begun planning for the growing industry, creating programs to grow a pool of skilled workers. Round Rock Chamber President Jordan Robinson said the region has a strong pipe- line in secondary education—largely because the semiconductor industry has already existed in the area for decades. Samsung’s investment has amplied it, she said, with federal and state dollars backing expansions to higher education programs. One of these programs is at Austin Community College, where students can pursue multiple levels of education in the manufacturing industry. Even a certication can go far in the industry, said ACC student Carlos Rodri- guez, who will graduate with a bachelor’s in engineering this May. “Having a certicate, you already have a lot of jobs open, a lot of opportunities
Austin Community College in Round Rock is building a 24,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility.
COURTESY AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
available to you,” Rodriguez said. “A certicate will benet a student’s life in many ways.” Other regional higher education institutions and workforce training programs have worked in recent years to meet future job demands. These include Texas State Technical College, which oers a variety of manufacturing programs, and Texas State University’s Round Rock Campus, which partners with Round Rock ISD to oer a dual-credit pathway in precision manufacturing.
Commercial property tax revenue Morgan said that while commercial property makes up about 7% of the city’s total taxable value, it generates about 46% of the city’s total property tax revenue.
Going forward
Commercial revenue
Residential revenue
said it will represent a new chapter in Round Rock’s story of economic growth. “We’ve been so fortunate that the companies that have come here and the bigger name ones that you think of—Dell, Emerson, all our hospitals, Kalahari—they’re all great partners and they all give back to the community,” Morgan said.
ACC is creating a clean room at its Round Rock campus similar to those in a manufacturing environment. Laura Marmolejo, advanced manufacturing dean, said it will be available to students by the end of 2026. Around that time Porter said the Samsung facility is expected to become operational. When the Samsung facility opens, Morgan
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