by Peter Partheymuller
More than 50 entities to let voters decide on project funding
Leaders in almost 50 school districts and five cities, along with one community college district and an improvement district, have decided to call elections to request bond funding. Voters will decide the fate of more than $3.8 billion when the election date rolls around May 7.
The amount is down by almost 20 percent from the figure in last May’s bond election, when local governments requested $4.75 billion and much more sharply from last fall’s bond vote, when $8.7 billion went to voters for approval.
Strategic Partnerships, Inc., has available for sale its Texas Bond Package, which provides a list of every public entity that will hold a bond referendum May 7. It also includes the dollar amount of each bond proposition and details on the proposed projects. Purchasers of the bond package will be emailed complete election results Monday, May 9. Additionally, information will be provided with the results document that outlines bond elections currently being discussed for November of this year and beyond.
The bond projects include new construction, renovations, equipment and issues that affect quality of life in a community, such as parks and recreation and public safety facilities. New schools and construction of performance art and athletics facilities dominate the educational bond propositions, but school districts are also planning renovations to existing campuses, adding high-tech tools and installing security measures to public schools throughout Texas.
Among the bond propositions going to voters in the first week of May will be:
A coastal improvement district that is requesting voter approval of $12 million that will go toward various water and wastewater projects, including improvements to a vacuum station and to the district’s sewer collection system;
A school district in the Rio Grande Valley has requested $109 million to build a new early college campus, provide roofing repairs to several buildings and to renovate an elementary school and other district facilities that have suffered from flood damage;
An East Texas school district that wants to build a new wing on a high school, add both an ag facility and a media center, as well as constructing a parking facility and a bus driveway; and
A suburban Central Texas city that is asking voters to approve more than $70 million in bonds to perform roadway improvements and to finish out master planned parks projects.
Not all of these bond propositions will meet with voter approval. Be sure to order a copy of the Texas Bond Package for May 2016 to remain up to date on all of the procurement opportunities.
This article originally published by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.