Jeff Seiler - Former Leander City Council, Place 5

05/04/2019

I want to thank my family for their sacrifice over the past few months. It hasn't been easy on them and I really appreciate the love they always give. It's important to remember that we all have spouses, kids, & parents that are there to support us, love us unconditionally, and be our biggest cheerleaders. I am forever grateful for them.

Please go vote!

04/30/2019

Today is the last day to early vote!!!! 7am to 7pm Pat Bryson Municipal Hall, 201 N Brushy Street.

Truth in Taxation:
I wanted to address a bit of misinformation found on another website stating that I voted to raise taxes twice in my four year tenure.

Here is a little history based on council minutes:
Tax rate was $0.65292 the year before I was on council, $0.67 the year prior to that.
Sept 21, 2015 - Vote to adopt a tax rate of $0.63292. This was a 2 cent reduction in tax rate from the previous year. Vote was unanimous, including then Councilmember Hill and me.
Sept 19, 2016 - Vote to adopt a tax rate of $0.5990. This is over 3 cents reduction in tax rate from the previous year. Vote was unanimous, including then Councilmember Hill and me.
Sept 21, 2017 - Vote to adopt a tax rate of $0.577867. This is over 2 cents reduction in tax rate from the previous year. Vote was unanimous, including then Councilmember Hill and me.
Sept 20, 2018 - Vote to adopt a tax rate of $0.551867. This is over 2 cents reduction in tax rate from the previous year. Vote was unanimous, including Mayor Hill and me.

Here is a great presentation on how property taxes work in the state of Texas. http://gfoatspringconference2014.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Bill-Longley-effective-tax-rate_gfoat.pdf

Here's the nuts and bolts of it but feel free to read yourself.
Exceeding the rollback rate allows the city to hold an election to "roll back" the tax rate to the rollback rate, which is the same amount for operations as in the prior year, plus an 8% cushion.
The effective rate is the tax rate that would give the city the same amount of revenue it had in the previous fiscal year. Exceeding the effective tax rate triggers hearing requirements, as well as "truth-in-taxation" requirements. We went below the effective rate last year and the city was at the effective rate the year prior.
For the 2016 and 2017 budgets we were in between the effective rate and rollback rate. This is where the truth-in-taxation requirement comes into play. Even though we lowered the tax rate over 5 cents, we took in more property tax revenue than the previous year so we had to raise our hands in favor of an increase of taxes. And once again, those votes have been unanimous.

04/26/2019

There are 5 days left for early voting. I am asking for your vote. If you are concerned about the long term future of Leander; If you are worried about a single person and PAC controlling your elected officals; If you believe in democracy and thinking for yourself. Then I ask that you trust in me to help Leander thrive over the next three years!

April 30th is the last day and as a reminder, early voting is only at Pat Bryson Hall in Leander.

Election Day is May 4th and we have 4 voting locations for all Leander residents. Pat Bryson Hall, Leander Library, Leander High School, and Rouse High School.

04/26/2019

"Here in Leander, we're in the business of people. It's our job to provide options that attract people to live here. Provide jobs so they work here. Provide amenities to entertain them"

Early voting has started at Pat Bryson Hall only!
April 30 - Last day of early voting.
May 4 - Election Day. Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Pat Bryson Hall, Leander Library, Rouse High School, Leander High School

Political advertisement paid for by Jeff Seiler

04/22/2019

Early voting starts today! We must become a hub for jobs in Leander! Help me to make it happen. It's time to move forward

04/20/2019

"Here in Leander, we're in the business of people. It's our job to provide options that attract people to live here. Provide jobs so they work here. Provide amenities to entertain them"
Political advertisement paid for by Jeff Seiler

04/18/2019

Last night was a candidate forum hosted by the Leander Advocacy Group and was a great opportunity to get our platform out there, answer questions, and interact with residents. There were two questions that were asked that I only had 30 seconds to answer that deserved a longer, better response.

1. You're an incumbent that has been on council for 4 years, why haven't you accomplished your goals already?

This was an excellent question. Priorities for our city and city council change over time. Quite frankly, we weren't in a position to go after jobs four years ago. We had infrastructure problems with roads, water, and wastewater. We had a lack of amenities. We had a housing problem, with not enough people or options for them to live. We had to address those and now we're in a better position to be able to target and attract employers.

2. If Troy is the mayor and the leader of City Council why are you not working with him?

Another good question… First off, the voting record suggests otherwise. Secondly, this is a democracy and not a dictatorship. There are seven votes on council and they are all equal, the mayor's is not any more important than anybody else. If you wanted council to support whatever the mayor asked then there's no point in having a council and the mayor could just do whatever he wanted. I think discussion, debate, and challenging each other is good and the right thing to do. I don't believe you want seven people that all have the exact same viewpoint.

04/06/2019

Campaign Finance Reports have been posted and thought this year I'd comment on my contributions to answer any questions people might have. Please let me know if you have any questions...
https://www.leandertx.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/city_secretary/page/11191/place5-seiler-cfr1_19.pdf

Gloria Dholakia - LISD School Board
Carl Norman - Leander resident
Andrea Farr - Leander resident
Laura Lantrip - Leander resident (split cost of booth at Living Leander Expo)
Mike Elmore - Leander resident
Dan Michie - Leander resident
Leander Firefighters - Leander organization of firefighters
Dr Kotrla - Leander resident
Bruce Nakfoor - Leander developer
John Lindner - Walker Partners
Halff Associates - national engineering firm (I voted against one of their projects at this past council meeting)
Linda Terry - Leander resident

04/06/2019

About a week ago I sat down with my friend Larry Ross with CentralTexasVibe and recorded a podcast pertaining to my background, experience and goals for Leander moving forward. Take a listen. I think Larry did a great job putting this together and I thank him for going out of his way to do this.

Jeff Seiler Place 5  Time  Topic     :36  The Early Years in Leander   1:06  The Sales and Marketing Background   2:02  The History   2:30  Service To The Community   2:58  Accomplishments The Lower Taxes   3:30  North Line Project, This Is A Game Changer   5:01  Bring In Business,...

04/05/2019

I felt it was important to make a few comments from last night’s city council meeting because we had a number of items that had a lot of discussion. https://leandertx.swagit.com/play/04052019-501

Please read below…
Item #4 Recognition: I was happy have WCCAC’s new Executive Director Kerrie Stannell out to Leander. The Advocacy Center has become something that is near and dear to my heart.
Item #10 North Creek Apartments: I was glad that Council-Member Sederquist pulled this item. 2am seemed really early, especially after having neighbors deal with Bagdad Rd construction.
Item #16 Outside Water Rates: I knew this would be somewhat controversial as we’ve discussed this item for a year now. But I believe we made a good decision to grandfather existing customers who are outside the city.
Item #18 Michelle Tract: This looks awesome and I can’t wait to see it happen
Item #19 Ashton Woods: First off, I HATE call to questions. I have never voted in favor of one and never will. Even if I think the discussion is off the rails. I think discussion is still important. Second, I appreciate Ashton Woods honesty and willing to move forward and come back if things don’t work.
Item #20 Retail Strategies: Wish we could have seen more
Item #25 John Bucy: I appreciate Mr Bucy wanting to have office space in Leander. I want him to have it too. This has nothing to do with him or his political party. I believe there should be a separation believe state, county, and city decisions. This blurs those lines every so slightly. I also believe that we wouldn’t allow another state or county official to have dedicated office space. If he wanted to come in occasionally and use the office to meet with a constituent, I’d be ok with that. But that space should be open to anyone, whether it be him, a council-member or other elected official.
Item #26 One acre lots: Lots of discussion on whether this is a ban on one acre lots – but the subdivision ordinance is clear. “If there are no physical constraints to sewer service, then on-site sewage treatment systems may be permitted as an exception by the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council.” We’ve approved one acre lots since the ordinance took effect and there’s nothing in there that says we can’t have more.
Item #27 Open Records Fees: This is beyond frustrating. This should not have been an agenda item at all. A simple phone call to our City Secretary would have been beneficial to see that we already have nominal fees when applicable.
Item #28 Ethics Disclosure Form: Another frustrating item that should not have been on the agenda. The Sponsor could have very easily called our City Secretary and/or our City Attorney and requested an updated form without an agenda item.
Item #29 NRP Apartments: I understand that this property is already zoned multi-family, there is nothing we can about that currently. But the site plan was all wrong and the discussion about LISD and money was great. This does not benefit Leander residents.
Summary: We seem to have had a huge amount of sponsored agenda items over the last few months with no back up material and no context to what we are discussing. It’s hard to prepare for a council meeting without it. We spend a lot of time asking questions on the dais when up on the dais should be reserved decisions, not informational. The informational and fact-finding stuff needs to be handled during the week so that council meetings run smoothly and more efficiently.

04/03/2019

About a week ago I sat down with my friend Larry Ross with CentralTexasVibe and recorded a podcast pertaining to my background, experience and goals for Leander moving forward. Take a listen. I think Larry did a great job putting this together and I thank him for going out of his way to do this. http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/9277010

Central Texas Vide   Jeff Seiler Place 5   Time    Topics  1:05     Jeff Back Ground 1:30     Family 2:07     History Place 5 2:27     Overachieve 3:37     Northline Deve...