Williamson County commissioners voted 4–0 on May 19, 2026, to purchase approximately 250 acres of land in southeast Georgetown for $75.8 million to house a new jail and justice center. The decision is the next step toward building a projected $500 million detention complex financed entirely without a public bond election, triggering intense backlash from local families and a formal open-meetings challenge.
The approved site sits less than a quarter-mile from Mitchell Elementary School and a half-mile from George Wagner Middle School, sparking safety concerns among neighborhood groups. In addition to the $75.8 million purchase price, commissioners authorized up to $150 million in debt instruments to cover immediate land costs and associated infrastructure adjustments.
Public outrage at the meeting focused on fiscal transparency, as local property records reveal the county paid roughly eight times the land’s assessed agricultural value. An Austin attorney has alleged the original land contract was illegally hidden from the public under a vague March agenda item.
According to a review of county records, the Williamson Central Appraisal District evaluated the property at an amount roughly 8.3 times below the final $75,819,874 contract price.
Commissioner Russ Boles defended the expenditure, stating that the land was appraised low because it is currently zoned for agricultural use, while its actual commercial market value is significantly higher.
Commissioner Valerie Covey added that the county purposefully directed its real estate broker to keep the buyer’s identity anonymous during negotiations to prevent the seller from inflating the price further at the taxpayers’ expense.
The initial March 24 vote authorizing the land contract made no mention of a jail facility, appearing on the county agenda titled only as an “Assignment of Commercial Contract, Unimproved Property”.
On May 6, Austin attorney Bill Aleshire sent a formal letter to the county asserting that the ambiguous phrasing violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, requesting that the court void the initial vote, repost the item with clear statutory notice, and revote.
While Commissioner Cynthia Long stated that both internal and outside legal counsels confirmed no violation occurred, the open-meetings dispute remains an unresolved point of contention.
While county leadership emphasized that the new site consolidates essential services and accommodates decades of phased expansion, actual construction cannot begin until the county navigates the City of Georgetown’s municipal zoning process.
“George Wagner Middle School is half a mile away and Mitchell Elementary is a quarter of a mile away,” resident Ed Stade told commissioners, summarizing the community’s frustration over a multi-million dollar industrial jail placement moving forward without a direct public vote.