Demographics

Population: 426,645 (2010)
Land Area: 1,124.3 sq. miles
Altitude: 454 to 1,265 ft.
Average Rainfall: 34.2 inches/year
January Temperature: 35 degrees F average minimum
July Temperature: 97 degrees F average maximum
Growing season: 258 days

Government

Williamson County, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, is governed by an elected, five-member commissioners’ court. The court is responsible for all budgetary decisions and setting the county tax rate each year. Other duties of the court include administration of all the business of the county, including the building and maintenance of county roads and bridges.

Additional information about Williamson County government and departments may be found on the county’s Web site, www.williamson-county.org.

Commissioners Court

Most of Eastern Williamson County sits in Precinct 4, which is represented on commissioners’ court by Republican Ron Morrison. Commissioners’ court is the overall governing and management body of Williamson County, responsible for all budgetary decisions and setting the tax rate each year. Among the duties of the commissioners court is administration of all the business of the county, including the building and maintenance of county roads and bridges.

There are five members of the commissioners’ court. Dan Gattis Sr. presides as the County Judge, a position elected by county voters every four years. The four commissioners are elected by the voters within their precinct every four years. The commissioners meet each Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Williamson County Courthouse, 710 Main St. in Georgetown. The main county switchboard can be reached at (512) 943-1100.

Precinct 4

Commissioner: Ron Morrison
Annex Address: 350 Exchange Blvd., Suite 100, Hutto
Office Specialist: Linda Wipff
Assistant: Pete Correa
Phone: (512) 846-1190 or (512) 943-3761
Fax: (512) 846-1140
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

District Attorney

Address: 405 Martin Luther King Blvd., Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-1234
Fax: (512) 943-1255
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Williamson County District Attorney is John Bradley. Bradley and assistant district attorneys prosecute felony crimes committed in the county. The District Attorney’s office is located on the second floor of the Williamson County Justice Center at 405 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Georgetown.

County Attorney

Address: 405 Martin Luther King Blvd., Suite 240,
Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-1111
Fax: (512) 943-1120
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Front
desk closed from noon to 1 p.m. daily)
Jana Duty serves as the Williamson County attorney and prosecutes criminal and juvenile cases, intervenes in cases of domestic violence, administers victims’ compensation claims and serves as legal counsel to the Williamson County Commissioners’ Court.

Justice Court, Precinct 4

Address: 211 W. Sixth Street, Taylor, TX 76574
Phone: (512) 352-4155
Judy Hobbs serves as Justice of the Peace for Williamson County Precinct 4.
Justices of the peace serve both as judges and magistrates.
As judges, they preside over justice criminal court, justice civil court and small claims court.
Criminal cases include but are not limited to traffic cases, school attendance cases, minor alcohol violation cases and minor tobacco violation cases. Law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, Department of Public Safety, Parks & Wildlife, Health Department and the Texas Alcohol & Beverage Commission, file complaints in justice criminal court. Civil cases include but are not limited to evictions and other suits with amount in controversy up to $5,000.

As magistrate, Hobbs issues warrants, conducts criminal examining trials, admonishes prisoners and sets bonds. She also conducts juvenile detention hearings and admonishes juveniles for statements. Additionally, justices of the peace perform marriage ceremonies and perform coroner duties on deaths that occur when not attended by a physician.

Sheriff’s Office

Address: 508 S. Rock Street, Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-1300 Fax: (512) 943-1444
Eastside Division address: 412 Vance Street, Taylor, TX 76574
Phone: (512) 352-4123, (512) 238-2123

James Wilson is the sheriff of Williamson County. He worked for DPS for more than 30 years, beginning as a state trooper, then becoming an investigator, a highway patrolman and spending eight years in administration, retiring as director.

The sheriff’s office is charged with providing public safety services to the residents of Williamson County. The sheriff’s office patrols the county, investigates crimes, maintains the county jail and provides other support services such as criminal records, crime victim assistance, traffic control and animal control.

In addition to enforcing the law, the sheriff’s office also keeps order in the district and county courts and actively promotes programs aimed at crime prevention, drug education and senior citizen safety. The Eastside Division is composed of patrol, investigations, animal control and livestock units, along with an administrative staff.

Precinct 4 Constable

Address: 2501 Mallard Drive, Taylor, TX 76574
Phone: (512) 352-4181
Precinct 4 Constable Marty Ruble was first elected in 1996. His office, which includes five deputies and three clerks, provides service of civil process, misdemeanor and felony warrants, child support papers and child support warrants. The constable’s office provides free security services for special community events as they arise. Deputies also can provide close patrol and bicycle patrol services upon request. The constable’s office also teaches bicycle safety and provides certificates upon completion.

Emergency Medical Services

Address: 303 Martin Luther King Blvd., Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-1264
Williamson County Emergency Medical Services serves all the unincorporated areas and cities of Williamson County. The department responds to all emergency medical calls and non-emergency patient transfers between hospitals. EMS also provides continuing emergency medical training for affiliated first-responder organizations and its own staff. The department has 14 stations handling more than 22,000 calls per year. The newest station is located in Hutto and will assist the two stations in Taylor in serving eastern Williamson County residents. The organization consists of nearly 110 full-time and six part-time personnel. All full-time field and administrative personnel are paramedics certified or licensed by the Texas Department of Health.

Williamson County EMS is active in public health and safety education, especially of school-age children. Programs are available for schools, child care agencies, shelters, juvenile probation and new mothers. Kenny Schnell serves as director of Williamson County EMS, as well as the emergency management coordinator for the county.

Williamson County and Cities Health District

Address: 100 W. Third St., Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-3600
Web: www.publichealthwilliamson.org
W.S. Riggins Jr., MD, MPH is executive director of the WCCHD. As the director, he oversees programs provided by six health district divisions: Community Health Promotion, Environmental Health Services, Public Health Nursing, Social Services, WIC Nutrition and Administrative Services. The Personal Health Services Division offers clinic services such as immunizations, prenatal care, well child care, WIC nutrition program, adult health screening program, tuberculosis treatment, sexually transmitted disease treatment, and HIV testing and counseling.

The Medical Assistance and Social Services Division performs eligibility determination for several programs and referrals to health and social services resources. The Environmental Services Division provides food handler sanitation training, food service sanitation inspections, septic system inspections and installer licensing, flood plain management, subdivision review, daycare inspections and environmental complaint investigations.

The Board of Health, appointed by county commissioners and member cities, oversees the activities of the Health District. District offices are located in Georgetown, Cedar Park, Round Rock and Taylor. The Taylor clinic provides preventive care services but does not provide sick care.

Tax Assessor and Collector

Address: 904 S. Main Street, Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-1602 (motor vehicles), (512) 943-1603 (property tax)
Taylor office: 412 Vance Street, Taylor, TX 76574
Phone: (512) 238-2140, (512) 352-4140
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Deborah Hunt was elected Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector and took office in 1997. She currently serves on the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts and the Tax Assessor Collectors Association of Texas Legislative Committees. The tax assessor/collector is elected countywide. The statutory responsibilities of the office include the assessment of property and collection of ad valorem taxes for the county, as well as contracting with other entities to collect their jurisdictions’ taxes.

The office is also responsible for registration and titling of all vehicles in the county, collection of the state tax on all automobiles sold, and issuance of beer and liquor renewal permits.

Property Taxes

Property taxes are the primary source of government revenue in Texas. These are local taxes based on the value of the property that help to pay for public schools, city streets, county roads, police, fire protection and many other services. The Williamson County Tax Assessor Collector’s office currently collects property taxes for Williamson County and other taxing jurisdictions, including the following (Taxes listed do not include entities such as Municipal Utility Districts, Higher Education taxes and Emergency Service Districts):
* City of Granger (0.888817)
* City of Hutto (0.516545)
* City of Taylor (0.813893)
* City of Thrall (0.504140)
* City of Weir (0.265234)
* Coupland ISD (1.04005)
* Granger ISD (1.105)
* Hutto ISD (1.540050)
* Taylor ISD (1.450000)
* Thrall ISD (1.210000)
* Williamson County (0.457687)

State

Representing Eastern Williamson County in the Texas
Legislature are District 5 Sen. Steve Ogden and District 52 Rep. Larry Gonzales. Ogden, a Republican, is an oil and gas producer from Bryan. He was originally elected to the Texas Senate in 1997 after serving in the state House from 1990 to 1997. He currently chairs the Senate Finance Committee and is a member of the Education, Administration, Government Organization and Partnership Advisory committees.

Offices
Capitol address: P.O. Box 12068, Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711
Toll: 1-888-694-2609
Phone: (512) 463-0105
Fax: (512) 463-5713
Gonzales, a Republican was elected to the Texas House in 2010. Gonzales serves on the Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and County Affairs committees.
Capitol office: Room E2.412, P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768
Phone: (512) 463-0670
Representing District 10, which includes Eastern Williamson County, on the Texas Board of Education is Marsha Farney.
She was elected to the State Board of Education in 2010.
Address: PO Box 99, Georgetown, TX 78627
Phone: (512) 966-6771

Nation

Taylor sits in the 31st Congressional District, represented in Congress by John Carter. Carter, who practiced law in Round Rock during the 1970s, was appointed district court judge in Williamson County in 1981. He was elected district judge in 1982, the first Republican to win a countywide election. He was elected to Congress in 2002.
Capital address: 408 CHOB, Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3864
District address: One Financial Center, 1717 North IH 35,
Suite 303, Round Rock, TX 78664
Phone: (512) 246-1600
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.
Kay Bailey Hutchison was first elected in 1993, becoming the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Hutchison is the Ranking Republican Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and serves on the Committee on Appropriations.
Capital address: 284 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-4304
Phone: (202) 224-5922 - Fax: (202) 224-0776
Austin address: 961 Federal Building, 300 East 8th Street, Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 916-5834 - Fax: (512) 916-5839
Cornyn, of San Antonio, was sworn in to the U.S. Senate in 2002.
Sen. Cornyn currently sits on the Senate Finance, Judiciary, Armed Services, and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee.
Capital address: 517 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2934 - Fax: (202) 228-2856
Austin address: Chase Tower, 221 West Sixth Street, Suite 1530, Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 469-6034 - Fax: (512) 469-6020

Williamson County remains one of the fastest growing counties in the state and the nation. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, its population has now topped 425,000 and the county continues to flourish. Williamson County occupies more than 1,100 square miles of Hill Country and Blackland Prairie to the north, east and west of Austin.

The county was carved out of Milam County (now adjacent to the east) and established March 13, 1848. It was named for prominent judge and soldier Robert M. Williamson, also known as “Three-Legged Willie” because of a birth defect that deformed one leg, which he accommodated with a wooden prosthesis.

Williamson County was probably first explored by Europeans in the late 17th Century, when Capt. Alonso De Leon sought a route between San Antonio and the Spanish missions in East Texas that would serve as a drier alternative to the more southerly Camino Real. Anglo settlement began during the Texas Revolution and the early days of the Republic of Texas, when the area was part of Milam County.

Williamson County was one of only 19 Texas counties to vote against secession from the Union during the Civil War. Post-war years were marked by bloodshed and banditry at the hands of outlaws like Sam Bass. With the coming of the railroads to the county in the 1870s, Taylor became an important rail center for the cattle trade. Cotton, the second boom industry in Williamson County, developed about the same time as the cattle industry. In 1900-01, Williamson County ginned more cotton than any county in Texas except Ellis County.

Both the cattle and the cotton booms were aided by the improved communications available in the county in the late 19th Century. The International-Great Northern Railroad, which later was consolidated with the Missouri Pacific, was built across the eastern part of the county in 1876 and led to the founding of Taylor and Hutto and to the relocation of Round Rock. It also opened up large areas in eastern Williamson County to commercial farming.

The county also became more ethnically diverse in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Significant numbers of Scandinavians, Germans, Czechs, Wends and Austrians moved to the county in the 1880s and 1890s. The proportion of foreign-born in the county population remained at about 10 percent from 1890 to the 1930s. Mexican immigration reached a significant level about 1910, just as Europeans stopped arriving in the county. There were 294 Hispanics in 1900, 732 in 1910, and 4,967 – or 11 percent of the population – in 1930.

Between 1930 and 1940, cotton continued to be an important crop in Eastern Williamson County but farmers increasingly turned to other crops, like sorghum and wheat, and to raising livestock.

The agricultural diversification of the middle decades of the 20th Century was followed by significant social and economic changes in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The black population, which had remained at between 15 percent and 18 percent of the total in the early and mid-20th Century, began to decline, both proportionately and in real numbers, from the 1940s on and had fallen to 4,111, or about 5 percent, by 1980.

As in other areas of Texas, blacks were relegated to segregated and inferior housing and educational facilities until the 1960s, when some improvements were brought about by federal desegregation policies.

Along with changes in racial composition, Williamson County experienced a dramatic increase in population in this period, growing from 37,305 inhabitants in 1970 to an estimated 85,700 inhabitants in 1982. Much of the growth in population was related to the development of new housing communities in the area of the county bordering Austin.

Urbanization, or rather ‘suburbanization,’ increased the population of Round Rock from 2,811 in 1970 to 11,812 in 1980. Cedar Park went from 125 to 3,474 inhabitants over the same period, and even Georgetown’s development was affected by the growth of Austin’s area of influence. In 1980, almost 60 percent of the county’s inhabitants lived in urban areas. In 1990, the population reached 139,551, an increase of more than 60 percent during the 1980s. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded a population of 249,967 in 2000. The most recent estimate approaches 330,000.

In 2001, Williamson County was the fifth fastest-growing county in the United States by percentage change and the 20th by numeric change.

The 2000 Census showed Williamson County to be, by and large, both prosperous and relatively youthful with a median household income of $60,642 and a median age of 32.3 years. Ten percent of the population was 60 years old or older. In 2000, there were 90,325 housing units in the county with a median home value of $125,800.

Sources: The Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Data Center; U.S. Census Bureau

Round Rock ISD
www.roundrockisd.org
Address: 1311 Round Rock Ave., Round Rock, TX 78681
The Round Rock Independent School District is headed by Superintendent Jesus Chavez. A seven-member board of trustees, led by President Charles Chadwell, is elected to lead the district and meets the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Round Rock High School lecture room at 300 Lake Creek Dr. The district has 25 exemplary campuses, 16 recognized and three acceptable with an overall rating of Recognized.

Round Rock Higher Education Center
www.rrhec.txstate.edu
Address: 1555 University Blvd., Round Rock, TX 78665
Phone: (512) 716-4000
Round Rock All Abilities Park The Round Rock Higher Education Center combines the efforts of Texas State University-San Marcos, Austin Community College, and Temple College at Taylor to offer educational programs and workforce training in the Williamson County and Austin area. These colleges and university also offer some certificate programs. You can earn a Master’s degree, Bachelor’s degree or an Associate degree by attending classes in Round Rock.

Austin Community College-Round Rock
www.austincc.edu/rrc
Address: 4400 College Park Dr., Round Rock, TX 78665
Phone: (512) 223-0000
The campus provides comprehensive higher education programs and services to more than 5,000 students. Plans call for future construction to expand the campus to accommodate 11,500 students.

ACC Round Rock offers university transfer degrees and core curriculum courses, workforce/technical degrees and certificates, and comprehensive student support services, such as advising and counseling, financial aid, library facilities and media services, as well as computer centers and a learning lab with free tutoring.

The campus is home to a variety of workforce programs including Accounting, Associate Degree (RN) Nursing, Automotive Technology, Biotechnology, Building Construction Technology, Computer/IT, Electronics, Management, Marketing, Medical Laboratory Technology, Radiology, Sonography, Surgical Technology, and Welding. The Continuing Education Division also has classrooms and offices on campus to expand noncredit classes and Customized Training options for residents and local employers.

Roundrockchamber.org
Address: 212 E. Main St., Round Rock, TX 78664
Phone: (512) 255-5805
The Round Rock Chamber of Commerce is led by President Doug Kurkul and directed by a 28-member board, chaired by Writ Baese. The Chamber hosts monthly business luncheons, networking events, ribbon cuttings and special events throughout the year.

Visitors Bureau
www.sportscapitaloftexas.com
Address: 231 E. Main St., Ste. 150, Round Rock, TX 78664
Phone: (512) 218-7023
The Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau provides information on local attractions, events, dining and lodging in and around Round Rock.