Hays County Commissioners voted unanimously this month to appeal a judge's decision to void the county's $440 million road bond. Now, the county is looking to start work on these projects, even while the bond’s future is uncertain.
“[Hays County commissioners] are gonna go ahead and find ways to move on with the important road projects,� said Jacob Limon, the chief of staff for Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. “Perhaps not all of them, but [county commissioners] are in the process of prioritizing which projects are gonna be most important to all the different precincts.�
The road bond would have ultimately been paid for with property taxes by adding a total of $0.02 per $100 valuation to . That’s an increase of about $74 a year for a home valued at $370,000 � which was the median sales price in September for a home in Hays County.
For now, the county won't be able to use the bond passed by voters, but county officials said they will find alternative funding sources. Limon said the county plans to take out a loan, called Certificates of Obligation (COs), that allows the government to borrow money without requiring voter approval.
“You’re talking about a whole different set of financial tools to kinda keep going at least on some of the projects that are super important,� Limon said. “Some of them might just be design work, we might need to keep moving on engineering.�
Limon said it could take months before Hays County Commissioners know if the $440 million road bond will be upheld or voided.
“We’re still a very fast-growing county. The road projects were needed to address a lot of that growth,� he said. “Commissioners and the judge have expressed some of their frustration and that their constituents are gonna feel.�
How did we get here?
Last August, Hays County Commissioners put a package on the November ballot to fund 31 projects across the county. The Austin area's population is expected to , according to forecasting by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Hays County leaders argued these projects would help with that growth by easing traffic congestion and improving road safety, especially on roads leading to I-35.
In October, a group of Hays County residents filed a lawsuit against county leaders for placing the item on the ballot. Four plaintiffs alleged there was a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. They claimed county officials misled residents by not adequately announcing a scheduled meeting to approve the bond election and limiting the amount of time people could speak on the item.
Hays County officials said they held open houses with information about the bond and its projects before early voting began in October.
In November, voters passed the road bond, also known as �Proposition A,� by 55.76% with 64,599 votes, according to Hays County election results.
Last month, a AGÕæÈË°Ù¼ÒÀÖ County district judge ruled on the lawsuit that the road bond package was void. At the time, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said he was hesitant to spend county resources and potentially tens of thousands of dollars to file an appeal.
On July 8, Hays County commissioners, including Becerra, voted unanimously to appeal the ruling. Becerra said he is still apprehensive about pursuing the appeal.
"Let's do the job that the voters said, we're all on the same page on that," Becerra said. "I just see it as feeding a team of lawyers, and we're not really gonna get anything out of it, but that's just my perspective."
Commissioners said they were "fired up" about upholding the item passed by a majority of voters.
"It's more than just a road bond; it's about overturning an election," Commissioner Michelle Cohen said. "I know how hard it is to get people turned out to vote, and you just told them, 'Sorry, your vote doesn't matter anymore because of a technicality.'"
