GOVERNMENT Fort Bend County considers November bond despite $286M in remaining unissued bond funds
WAITING FOR FUNDS Fort Bend County has requested $863 million in the past five voter-approved bond programs. However, $286 million remains unissued by the county.
BY ASIA ARMOUR
Issued
Authorized
Slawinski said he believes the county is upside down on its mobility projects because of inflated costs of construction and rights of way. “We are paying about 25% more in general on our right-of-way acquisition cost,” he said. “The construction cost on our projects have gone up [by] about 35%. Those numbers have actually impacted a number of our ongoing projects.” Precinct 1 Commissioner Vincent Morales said it takes three years for the design, right-of-way acqui- sition and utility relocation before the county can “put a shovel in the ground.” He said the county changed its funding approach for the 2020 bond to only fund the design, right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation of projects. “We’re going to go back into this next bond to construct those,” Morales said. “Once the voters approve, we’ll be able to immediately put those out on the street to construct.” Next steps With the 4-0 vote March 7, commissioners let engineering and parks department officials move forward to identify priority projects. The court has until Aug. 7 to decide whether to put a bond on the Nov. 7 ballot, according to the county attorney. Based on how quickly projects are being com- pleted, Sturdivant proposed the bond be priced at $600 million or less—a 175% increase from the price tag on the county’s 2020 mobility bond program. Slawinski suggested the commissioners continue the practice of identifying funding for the design in one mobility program and vying for construction dollars in future bonds. “Give us three years to design and get the right-of- way acquisition started, and in the following mobility program we could [use construction funds] to get the project built,” Slawinski said. Morales said his office has reached out to his precinct’s municipalities to discover their priorities, with Katy and Fulshear submitting one project each.
Although hundreds of millions of dollars from previous voter-approved bonds remain unspent, Fort Bend County officials have begun considering projects for a possible bond for November’s ballot. Fort Bend County Commissioners Court instructed its engineering as well as parks and recreation offices to collect a list of projects for a proposed mobility and parks bond in a 4-0 vote March 7. County Judge KP George abstained from the motion, citing concerns about unfunded projects remaining from previous voter-approved bonds in recent years. “[I am] not against the bond, and I’m not against issuing debt, ... but I don’t see any reason why we have to take an action today,” he said. Nearly $300 million in bond projects remain unfunded from the more than $860 million approved in the past five voter-approved bonds since 2000, County Engineer Stacy Slawinski said. However, commissioners cited rising construction costs and the time needed to construct projects for delays in construction. They said they believe the county should decide now which projects should take precedence if a new bond is proposed. Outstanding projects Projects from the past three bonds are still ongo- ing, and of the $218.2 million approved in 2020, none of the money had been issued toward projects as of April 12, County Auditor Ed Sturdivant said. At the March 14 council meeting, commissioners approved a $75 million advanced funding agree- ment to start 30 mobility projects from past bonds. Sturdivant said the agreement increased by another $25 million in April to account for the county’s invest- ment on the northbound segment of Grand Parkway frontage road construction—from Westheimer Parkway to Cinco Ranch Boulevard. However, he said funding for more than 80 projects from the last two bond programs remain authorized but unissued.
2000
$86M
$86M
2007
$156M
$156M
2013
$185M
$185M
2017
$218M
$150M
2020
$0
$218.2M
STALLED ON PROJECTS Even with an advanced funding agreement for ongoing projects that increased to $100 million in April, over 80 are still ongoing. County officials estimate they would need $78 million in the next bond program to complete outstanding projects.
Completed
Ongoing
2013
2017
2020
52 total
68 total
71 total
SOURCE: FORT BEND COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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