A majority of Cedar Park's businesses feel Cedar Park is heading in the right direction and feel they are doing better or the same as they did last year, according to over 300 individuals associated with Cedar Park businesses in a recent business climate survey conducted by the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce.

The respondents were evenly split - 45% each - between feeling they were doing better than last year or doing just the same.

On the other end of the spectrum, only 5% said they were doing worse than last year, and only 10% said Cedar Park was moving in the wrong direction.

An overwhelming majority of respondents said they feel the Chamber is doing a good job advocating for local businesses and supporting its efforts to lobby for more transportation upgrades that will impact Cedar Park and against bills damaging to "Texas' reputation as a 'business-friendly' state."

A major new law still hovering over local businesses is the so-called "Death Star bill," named after the planet-destroying space station from "Star Wars" by its critics because they believe it will destroy the entire concept of local control in Texas. Passed by the Texas Legislature last year, the law eliminates and blocks future passage of any local ordinances by cities or counties that exceed or conflict with laws passed by the Legislature, such as ordinances that would establish a minimum wage, paid parental leave or mandatory water breaks.

The survey found 90% of respondents said they "believe in local control of government" and 35% of them listed state restriction of local control of property taxes as the statewide issue most likely to impact their business - the highest cited statewide issues in the survey.

Additionally, 30% cited school and school safety being the most impactful statewide issue, followed by 25% citing utilities as the biggest issue and 10% citing all other issues under the "Other" category.

Lastly, the survey noted the importance of workforce development and improvement for growing the local business community. When indicating the workforce development priority most important to them, the respondents' answers included:

* 35% who cited supporting partnerships in education,
* 25% who cited working with partners, agencies and others to support a competitive workforce,
* 15% who cited supporting education initiatives,
* 15% who cited working more with Workforce Solutions, SCORE and other organizations,
* 5% who cited supporting dual credit programs; and
* 5% who cited items under the "Other" category.