SID Budget ’24-’25

At this past Monday’s meeting, there were only three residents: me, Council member Julian Martinez, and someone who showed up near the end of the meeting. THREE residents!

How these assessments are made is a lot more complicated than just the four points listed below, obviously. But these four points were what I was able to clarify-ish. Otherwise, I really can’t make out a method to the madness or tell what playbook the SID board is playing by. There’s a $1 million increase of the SID budget from ’23-’24 to ’24-’25 and the board seems to have put a lot of funding of that increase on Westlake residents’ shoulders, us little guys living in Westlake’s single-family homes, as you’ll read below.

I’m not really sure who’s looking out for us when it comes to SID. On the city side, we have our resident Council members, staff, boards/committees, and many many residents all looking out for us. But on the SID side, I don’t see any of that. The board is still stocked with some Minto folks, so maybe that’s why. I don’t think any of them are Westlake residents… But if the SID board isn’t going to look out for us and the City Council isn’t paying attention, then WE NEED to pay attention.

Now, to those four points:

1) The product type on the tax roll, from 4,999 – >14.000 is lot size by square footage. The townhomes’ assessments, which have lot sizes of less than 4,999 sq ft, have been moved to the Condo/Townhouse Unit line item. Why? I don’t know. But that’s why there are zero (0) units in the <4,999 product type.

Click for SID's 2025 Budget — Click for SID’s 2025 Budget

2) These rate increases, ranging from 22-37%, are REAL. These assessments will add up to a $200-300 increase for single-family homes next year. SID has a reason, expressed in this SID Budget Clarification document, and outlined just below. I still don’t really understand why the assessments for the smaller lot sizes, owned by Westlake’s families, are increased substantially more than those for larger lot sizes, say like those lots owned by a huge corporation like Minto.

I think some of SID’s justification for the increases that affect residents is that we’re ahead of the schedule and below the budget originally projected in 2016. So these assessments, even with the increases, are less than what was expected eight years ago.

SID’s three reasons for the increases in the Clarification Document are these:

4.8% in general expenses, explained by our growing city, inflation and that new fitness trail, etc.

$430,000 in capital improvement expenses: $300,000 in Big Park improvements (NW corner of SPW & Sycamore) including land clearing, drainage, sod/treatment AND $130,000 in road/right-of-way repairs. I hope the City Council is working HARD to gain funding for the Big Park, because us residents weren’t meant to foot that bill.

$287,000 toward a debt repayment for that drainage culvert on SPW just north of Sycamore. Not sure why we took a loan out on that one.

SID has Westlake built-out 90% infrastructure-wise. These incredible increases in assessments have a lot to do with (hopefully one last, final) infrastructure “oomph”. SID President Scott Massey says, going forward, we shouldn’t see big jumps in assessments like this because SID will mostly be “maintaining” our already built infrastructure: roads/sidewalks/multi-modal pathways, street paint, lighting, drainage, etc.

3) Big decreases for commercial land owners… Mr. Cassel said these decreases are adjustments for the turnover from the developers to the commercial entities. I’m not sure why… maybe this is the motivation to get something built on the developer’s bare land? A substantially cheaper assessment?

4) New commercial already here and expected to come online… And here’s an example of the inability to see the method to the madness. Then DKC Westlake Landings LLC, at 2,040 units/sq ft is only assessed at $1.46. But then Publix, at 122,520 sq ft is also assessed $1.46. ???