Round Rock and Pflugerville are situated next to each other but they’re miles away when it comes to their ability to generate dollars.

The proof is easy to find, as one look at Texas Comptroller Susan Combs’s Monthly Sales Tax Allocation report will attest.

Round Rock – despite its small size in comparison to cities such as San Antonio, Dallas and Houston – annually competes with the big boys in sales tax generation.

Once known primarily for the limestone outcropping that is its namesake, Round Rock is home to an intersection known as the “Sales Tax Capital of Texas” and annually takes in more than $50 million in sales tax payments, easily.

For those unfamiliar with the sales tax process, monthly allocations are those given to cities, counties and other governmental agencies for taxes generated on sales in those areas. Tax rates may differ from city to city, but the rate is capped at 8.25 percent.

Through October 2009, Round Rock had received $58.69 million in sales tax payments from the state. In October alone, the city generated $4.60 million in taxes, which actually was down 22 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Round Rock is dealing with a drop of 12 percent or more for the entire year, but in this down economy, is not alone in that situation. Its overall take, though, is one Pflugerville leaders would love to have.

According to Comptroller Combs’ office, Pflugerville took in $4.79 million in sales tax collections through October of 2009. That places its total for 10 months just above that of Round Rock’s 1-month receipt.

Things, though, are not as bleak as those figures may lead you to believe. Overall, Pflugerville has been making gains while others are taking steps backwards. Through October, the city had generated 14 percent more sales tax than it had in 2008 and city officials were looking forward to a good holiday retail season, due to big box openings at Stone Hill Town Center and other developments near the new state Highway 130.

And there is much land left to develop along the toll road, which is slowly shifting business eastward in Central Texas toward Hutto and Pflugerville’s eastern back roads.

Dell Inc. transformed Round Rock with its ability to double the city’s sales tax revenue, and those retail developments along the tollway to come and existing promise to do the same for Pflugerville.

And the wild card to come will be Blu Bambu Water Park, now slated to open in 2011.

Originally eyed for 2010, Blu Bambu’s opening was pushed back a year due to rain. It was a bummer for city officials, but one with a reward big enough to wait for.

The water park – to include a wave pool, 10 water slides, a lazy river, a concert stage and more on 26 acres – is no pipe dream.

Estimates have it generating $393,000 in annual sales tax revenue, and considering recent rapid growth in Central Texas just north of Austin, it’s easy to believe hot Texas summers could lead to even greater numbers. Just consider this: Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels is much further away and places like the University of Texas, the state Capitol, the Frank Erwin Center, the Backyard, Round Rock Premium Outlets and Dell Diamond are each tourist attractions drawing from throughout the state and locales outside of it.

Perhaps it is fitting that late last year famed race car driver Mario Andretti visited Pflugerville (for a ribbon-cutting at Stone Hill Town Center). Heading into a new decade and a new year, Pflugerville seems poised to take on Andretti’s ability to turn the corner at break-neck speed, at least in the economic sense.