DALLAS - Texas voters approved more than $3.9 billion out of $5.4 billion of bonds on local ballots on May 9, according to updated tallies.
Of the 93 bond issues, with requests ranging from $440,000 to $495 million, more than 70 passed, according to the consulting firm Strategic Partnerships Inc.
Klein Independent School District in the rapidly growing Montgomery County suburbs of Houston was the biggest winner at $495 million. Among cities, Frisco won easy approval of $268 million of bonds for a variety of projects, including expansion of City Hall and a new performing arts center.
Among the $1.5 billion of proposals that failed, the largest was a $450 million bond for the Ysleta, Independent School District, in El Paso. Superintendent Xavier De La Torre told reporters that he will ask the board to approve an election in November for the same amount. The district, celebrating its centennial this year, must replace aging facilities, he said.
In McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley, defeat of a $297 million school bond proposal prompted a bitter exchange between two school board members Tuesday, according to the McAllen Monitor.
The two board members disagreed on how to package the bonds on the ballot, with one favoring a separate listing for each project. Two political action committees raised thousands of dollars to defeat the bond proposal, according to local reports.
While school bond issues in Montgomery County passed easily, voters there rejected $350 million for roads.
Montgomery County Commissioner James Noack is calling for the bond proposal to be reintroduced for the November election, minus a project called The Woodlands Extension that voters in the town feared would damage its residential ambience.
"If the [commissioners] court is willing to make these wise changes, I believe the voters will enthusiastically support the bond," Noack said in a prepared statement.
In East Texas, 57% of voters in the debt-free school district of Marshall agreed to take on $109 million of bonds to build new schools, a year after rejecting a slightly larger $150 million measure.
The new bond proposal will not only replace the decades-old junior high, but also build three new elementary schools and allow for renovations to Sam Houston Middle School.
