Hays County Commissioners Court Approves Resolution Supporting FM 110, 19 New Election Precincts

Staff Reports

The Hays County Commissioners Court approved a resolution supporting the construction of FM 110 and a resolution regarding changes to several existing election precincts.

New requirements in the Texas Department of Transportation’s construction letting “necessitate that the entities in which a project is located formally take action to support the construction project.”

In July 2014, TxDOT and Hays County entered into an Advanced Funding Agreement, which laid out the roles and responsibilities of each entity in the development and construction of FM 110.

The project will be comprised of three segments, which are FM 110 from SH 123 at FM 621, FM 110 from FM 621 to SH 80 and FM 110 from SH 80 to I-35 at Yarrington Road.

The resolution of support for FM 110 passed unanimously. The first portion of the project, FM 110 from SH 123 to FM 621, is on TxDOT’s construction letting schedule for July 2019.

Since the Advance Funding Agreement was signed, changes to the project schedule, cost and funding sources have occurred.

Commissioners approved unanimously an amendment to the agreement, which will no longer require the annual payment to TxDOT to be sourced solely from the Transportation Reinvestment Zone Number One.

Hays County General Counsel, Mark Kennedy, said San Marcos will keep its TRZ in place, and the county will use appropriated funds from an interlocal agreement with the City of San Marcos to pay TxDOT for the project.

The local government contribution for the project is $48 million.

Commissioners unanimously adopted changes to 11 existing election precincts in Hays County.

Under Texas Election Code 42.031, changes needed to be made to the following election precincts’ boundaries due to exceeding or encroaching the maximum number of registered voters of 5,000 per precinct.

• 113 – 4,880
• 120 – 6,315
• 127 – 5,953
• 129 – 5,195
• 221 – 4,656
• 224 – 6,802
• 228 – 8,574
• 336 – 4,508
• 337 – 4,978
• 443 – 5,433
• 444 – 6,091

According to Jennifer Anderson, Hays County Elections Administrator, the changes will add 19 new precincts and 19 potential new polling places throughout the county.

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra requested that the county look at uploading the new precincts maps to the website for voters to be able to review.

Anderson said the state election code requires commissioners to review and adjust voting precincts every odd-numbered year in March and April to ensure the number of registered voters in each precinct is under 5,000.

The County Elections Administration Office will send out new voter registration cards to voters in the affected precincts.

The county is expected to release a press release to inform voters of the precinct changes and know to expect new voter registration cards in the upcoming weeks.

Anderson said one of the ramifications of the precinct divisions is that it will require precinct chairs in those new locations due to the requirement of a polling place in each precinct; this, however, could become irrelevant if the county moves to the countywide voting program.

Hays County is still in the process of applying for the state’s countywide voting program; the program allows voters to cast ballots at any open county polling location on Election Day.