Hunt County has received some impressive marks concerning plans to issue bonds for the $24 million road bond package approved by voters in November.
Moody's Investor Service issued a rating of Aa2, the second highest-level rates by the agency, according to Hunt County Judge John Horn.
"These are for the purpose of the transportation project bonds that were approved," Horn said. "That's really, really good."
The rank of Aa indicates the bonds are judged to be of very high quality and are subject to low credit risk.
The measure on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot passed with 17,844 votes for (64.69 percent) to 9.739 votes against (35.31 percent).
It is expected the money will be leveraged to help pay for multiple transportation projects across the county.
The Hunt County Transportation Plan Committee began meeting in 2010 to map out the county's future transportation needs, eventually coming up with a list of projects designed to address the growth which is approaching the county from the west, north and south, ranking the projects in order of greatest need and the most significant impact to the county, coming up with the $24.4 million bond package.
The proposed projects include the rebuilding of Farm to Market 2642, the widening of FM 1570 from Interstate 30 to State Highway 34, the widening of State Highway 34 from FM 1903 to FM 1570 and the construction of an underpass/overpass for pedestrian traffic on State Highway 24 in Commerce for students of Texas A&M University -- Commerce.
The majority of the funding for the projects, as much as $162.4 million, would come from TxDOT via statewide propositions approved by voters in 2014 and 2015.
The bond package is expected to increase taxes for residents by 1.5 cents per $100 valuation, adding about $15 to the annual property tax bill of an average homeowner in the county.
