Hutto leaders, residents push for cocktails, sales-tax split on May ballot
HUTTO – Local leaders and residents are putting their John Hancocks on two petitions designed to govern alcohol sales at new restaurants and leverage a shared sales-tax deal with Emergency Services District No. 3.
If enough verified signatures are collected, both initiatives could be on the May ballot.
Texas Petition Strategies, a company that specializes in municipal petition drives, is assisting with both efforts.
Alcoholic beverages
Restaurants annexed into Hutto after 2016 are not allowed to serve cocktails or mixed drinks made with alcohol, only beer or wine.
Now, the city wants to let residents choose whether new eateries may provide alcoholic beverages on their menus.
The city, along with the Hutto Economic Development Corp. and the Hutto Area Chamber of Commerce, announced a petition Oct. 27 to put the issue before voters next spring.
Residents and city leaders began signing this week, with local politicians saying the aim is to encourage consumers to spend money at Hutto establishments instead of elsewhere.
“Every time a Hutto family leaves Hutto to go to a restaurant, they’re spending money that could be with us, that could help our economy grow,” said Mayor Mike Snyder. “If we do not modernize our local alcohol rules while everyone else around us does, bars, restaurants, grocery stores and entertainment districts will not come here.”
The last alcohol sales election in 2006 gave businesses the right to serve mixed drinks, but establishments on land annexed after 2006 are only allowed to sell beer and wine.
Restaurants offering cocktails on their menus that have recently shown interest in locating to Hutto’s newer areas include Longhorn Steakhouse and Olive Garden, officials said.
“The restaurants that people are asking for, it’s going to be hard to get these types of places here if we don’t go out for this. It’s really exciting to put this on the ballot, let people decide, and then we can start reaching out to these people,” said Mayor Pro Tem Evan Porterfield.
Texas Petition Strategies President John Hatch said the petition needs about 2,900 verified signatures from Hutto voters.
The company hopes to submit the petition after Thanksgiving to the city clerk to verify the signatures.
If there are enough verified signatures, the measure will go before the council for approval to be added to the next uniform voting day.
Hatch said the company will be using Hutto voter rolls to reach out to registered voters with more information about the issue. The company will have people going door to door to educate and answer questions about the alcohol issue.
The petition can be signed at the Chamber, 122 East Street; Julio’s Mexican Restaurant, 560 U.S. 79; Casa Jalisco Sports Bar & Grill, 125 Co-Op Blvd.; Friday Night Liquors, 409 W. Front St.; Starbeam Liquor No. 1, 133 E. Front St.; and Starbeam Liquor No. 2, 6081 FM 1660.
Sales-tax tussle
The city and the EDC are also sponsoring a petition drive that will affect how sales tax is shared between the city and Williamson County ESD No. 3.
The ESD petition campaign was not introduced at Tuesday’s press conference, but Snyder said the ballot initiative concerned sharing sales tax revenue for developments annexed into the city since 2016.
Any reduction in salestax allotments could have an adverse effect on the county fire department’s services, an ESD spokesman said.
An ESD is a political entity that collects taxes to support fire and medical services in rural or less populated areas of a county.
In 2016, voters passed a proposition allowing ESD No. 3 to collect a 2% sales and use tax.
Hutto has had an agreement with the ESD to share sales taxes on certain properties annexed after 2016, and that agreement has been at the center of discord between the two entities since Hutto began seeing new industrial and retail properties wanting to set up shop in the area.
An ESD No. 3 spokesman said the language in the petition itself asks the Board of Emergency Service Commissioners to reduce the local sales and use tax rate from 2% to 0.25%.
It does not state that the reduction would be for a limited area; instead, it would reduce the fire department’s entire sales tax revenue by 87%, a result the fire chief said would have a direct effect on the community.
“Should this be successful, it will have a significant monetary impact on us and then we will have to evaluate the level of service that we provide to not just the city of Hutto but to the 63 square miles of the district. We protect 73,000 people,” said Fire Chief Scott Kerwood.
Snyder said in order for the city to get part of that 2%, either the ESD has to agree to share it or an election has to be held to reduce the ESD’s portion.
The mayor added if the petition and election are successful, the ESD portion would be reduced to .25%,and the city could claim the remaining 1.75% on properties that were annexed after 2016.
The ESD would then need to call another election for voters to restore their 2% funding on the remaining part of the ESD’s territory.
Kerwood said the money the ESD collects for sales tax can only be spent on facilities, apparatus and personnel.
City representatives have noted the department provides an “exemplary” level of service and they do not want to decrease the protection residents receive.
“Going from 2% to a quarter-percent will have a negative financial impact on the district. And if this is successful and the sales tax is reduced to a quarter percent, then we’re going to have to look real hard at all of our services, our facilities and personnel and see what fits in the monies that we have and what doesn’t fit,” Kerwood said.
The city has also recently been exploring the creation of its own fire department to claim the sales tax percentage set aside for the ESD.
However, Snyder said if the petition is successful and voters agree to reduce the ESD’s sales tax share so the city can claim it on the annexed properties, it would basically remove the city’s incentive to establish its own fire service.
“We don’t want to run a fire department, but if we have to to get the sales tax we will,” Snyder said.
