Pflugerville finance director details utility-billing upgrades, recent debt activity and transparency steps

Finance Director Tracy Waldron told the Pflugerville City Council at its Jan. 27 work session that the city’s new utility-billing system went live in November 2024 and that staff is working with the vendor on a "pace audit" to identify efficiency gains.

Waldron said the city’s finance team has been updating workflows and that a new accounts-payable process, developed with the business process analyst and staff across departments, is being tested to reduce processing steps. "We did go live with utility billing in November 2024," she said, and officials are now optimizing how the system is used.

She reported transaction volumes and program statistics for the fiscal year: 473 purchase orders totaling about $22,000,000; 210 contracts totaling over $260,000,000; nearly 14,000 P‑card transactions (about $3,600,000); roughly 9,800 payments totaling about $407,000,000; and biweekly payroll that runs roughly 475 timesheets on average and up to about 620 in summer months.

On debt and capital: Waldron said the city has 58 active capital projects and summarized recent financings. The city issued a 2025 certificate of obligation for $121,000,000 to fund streets and water and wastewater infrastructure, completed a 2025 refunding bond of $18,000,000 with estimated savings just over $1,000,000, issued a Meadowlark PID special assessment for $14,700,000 and closed a WIFIA tranche/loan of $176,000,000. Waldron said the application with the Texas Water Development Board began in 2024 and the city scheduled closing on related loans for Feb. 24.

Waldron also highlighted transparency steps: the city updated debt-transparency information on the website, provides monthly and quarterly council reports, and conducts quarterly budget-to-actual reviews with departments. She noted the finance team received a Distinguished Budget Presentation award for the fiscal 2026 budget document and a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for fiscal 2024.

Council members asked for clarification on the figures and how the new systems will affect customer communications; Waldron said the vendor’s "notify" module will permit targeted phone-tree and text messaging to affected areas and that the city hopes to roll the module out within months. The presentation concluded with council questions and thanks to Waldron.

Next steps: staff will continue system optimization, deploy targeted notifications, and finalize revised workflows for accounts payable and related processes.