Hays County Commissioners Court approve asking voters to approve $440 million bond package in November

With the rapidly growing population in Hays County, so too is the ever expansion of infrastructure. The Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a road bond for the upcoming election in an effort to ensure that the roads evolve alongside ±

the influx of people at the regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday. Many people spoke in public comment against the specifics of the bond.

After direction from the court at the previous meeting, the road improvement projects are now categorized by city or area rather than the precinct number — San Marcos area project, Kyle area project, etc. Now listed under San Marcos area projects are the Leah Avenue Mobility Project and the Centerpoint Road Safety Project. Buda area projects are SH 45 Southwest Extension Regional Connectivity Project, Old San Antonio Road Safety Project, Hillside Terrace Mobility Project and FM 2001 Gap Safety Project. Dripping Springs Area Projects are Darden Hill Extension Mobility Project, RR12/ FM 150 Intersection Safety Improvements Safety Project and Dripping Springs Southwest Connection Regional Connectivity Project. Eastern County Projects are Cotton Gin Road Safety Project, Dairy Road Safety Project, William Pettus Road Extension Mobility Project and Old Bastrop Highway Safety Project. Kyle Area Projects are Windy Hill Interim Mobility Project, Windy Hill Roundabout Mobility Project, Windy Hill Ultimate Mobility Project, Goforth Road Regional Connectivity Project, RM 150 East Mobility Project, Yarrington Road Extension - Segment 1 and Segment 2 Regional Connectivity Project and Bunton Lane/Heidenreich Lane/ Grist Mill Road Safety/ Mobility Project. Uhland Area Projects are FM 2001 East Safety / Mobility Project and High Road Mobility Project. Western County Projects are Darden Hill Phase 2 Safety / Mobility Project, Sawyer Ranch Road Pedestrian Walkway Safety Project, Sawyer Ranch Road Widening Mobility Project and Fitzhugh Road Mobility Project. The only Wimberley Area Project is the Old Kyle Road Safety Project.

At a meeting on July 7, Dan Wegmiller, Specialized Public Finance vice president, said the bonds would be issued separately across four to five years and would not hit Hays County’s debt profile immediately. Wegmiller said that growth estimates were used to calculate the impacts of the bond on an individual’s property taxes.

“For someone that has a $400,000 taxable value, 2 cents would be an $80 annual increase,” Wegmiller said. “If it’s a $500,000 home, it’s a $100 increase roughly.”

Julie Houston, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Hays County bond council, said the principal amount has been adjusted with the latest figures to be $439,634,000.

Les Karnes, a Hays County resident, said more funds should be dedicated to the east side of town as the roads are far worse than those on the west side.

“It’s unconscionable that you have a fastest growing population on the east side getting handed crumbs basically, $222 million out of this package, when it’s blowing up out there,” Karnes said. “In conclusion, consider directing more of the funds out there where it's needed.”

Hays County Commissioner Michelle Cohen said she was glad to see that there are actually projects slated for the east side of town.

“I’ve lived in this county for 40 plus years, and a lot of our roads on the east side look exactly as they did at that time,” Cohen said. “For me to see the number of projects that are at full construction or even at design, it makes me happy, as a long time resident of Hays County, to finally see real work being done to an area that has been severely disregarded and underserved.”

Hays County Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe said she represents mainly the east side of I-35 where there is a great need.

“Those roads have been neglected for such a long time, and we need improvements on the east side,” Ingalsbe said. “It is extremely important that we look at those needs. … I just feel that it is important that we strongly consider … allowing the voters to decide if this is something that they want to approve because of the great need on the east side of I-35.”

Virginia Parker, the San Marcos River Foundation director, said she had many concerns about the road bond.

“We all know how this county is growing. We know that one of your responsibilities is infrastructure, but several of the road projects listed that you all will be voting on today seriously threaten the very things that draw people to our county and why many of us leave here today,” Parker said. “Several of these roads would open up major development across very sensitive recharge land that feeds our aquifers, springs and rivers. Think about how adversely that could impact our county.”

Hays County Commissioner Lon Shell said he understands the concerns of citizens particularly when it comes to the environment, especially water.

“I don’t think we can say that that keeps us from being able to fix transportation with the growth that we already have,” Shell said. “We are probably behind the growth. It’s hard sometimes to get ahead of things when you’re growing this fast, but I think most of these are at the point of needing improvements.”

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said he felt the majority of public comment focused on “Pct. 4 concerns, and Fitzhugh specifically,” and that he wanted “to give Commissioner [Walt] Smith a chance to comment.”

Smith said he felt that there was a lack of understanding of “where the budget lies.”

“Whenever we look at the Master Transportation Plan that was developed in 2021, it was an extension of the Master Transportation Plan that was developed in 2016 that both included Fitzhugh road as a four-lane roadway. I didn’t come up with that concept. It’s been on the books since well before I was elected. That’s because looking at the …. Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization on how much growth there would be in that area,” Smith said. “The first thing I requested was a true safety audit of Fitzhugh Road, and that safety audit is all but complete. At this point, we’ve gotten recommendations from that engineering firm as to what interim safety improvements that we can have along Fitzhugh Road to try to make an impact. And within our current budget process, I’m trying to identify how just those improvements are going to cost the county just over $3 million for those interim improvements.”

Smith said the bond actually is set to fund the environmental studies “that have been requested here today.” He said he was unaware whether Fitzhugh road would ultimately be a four-lane road, because the county has not “taken those steps yet.” He added the Transportation Safety Audit is showing that some parts of Fitzhugh road need to be straightened for safety reasons “only when necessary,” but he would still like to keep the hill country character in the area.

“We’re at a point where we have dropped our tax rate so low here in Hays County in comparison to other counties, that we can’t afford to physically fund those on an annualized basis,” Smith said. “Because of that, we have to do general transportation bonds every so often just to come back and get those projects that have been planned for and that have gone through the environmental clearance.”

Upon direction from Smith, Houston revised the language of the Fitzhugh Road project to be reduced to $5 million with the additional $1.148 million to be placed in the pot for discretionary in Pct. 4. The language was also changed from a Mobility Project to Safety Audit and Corridor Study.

“So the focus will not be to move cars through there but to make it safe,” Becerra added.

Additional bond information may be found in the agenda packet at hays county tx.new.swagit. com/ videos/ 312213 starting on page 165.

8/14/2024