Reauthorization of a city road tax will be put to a vote in West Lake Hills upcoming Nov. 4 election, following an ordinance passed by West Lake Hills City Council.
The overview
At an Aug. 13 City Council meeting, officials in West Lake Hills called a special election on Nov. 4 for voter approval of a sales and use tax at the rate of one half of one percent, or $0.005, to provide revenue for maintenance and repair of city streets.
The tax will expire after 8 years, on the anniversary of the city’s Aug. 13 council meeting, unless the tax is reauthorized.
The history
On Nov. 2, 2021, the city held a special election to authorize a road tax at the same rate, which will expire on Nov. 2 of this year if not reauthorized by voters.
The city also approved a road bond in 2021, which set aside $11.8 million in funding to improve Camp Craft Road, Redbud Trail, Westlake Drive, Laurel Valley Road, and Yaupon Valley Road.
“Four years ago, we went out for a bond election to make major repairs and perform maintenance on all of our streets, bridges [and] drainage,” Mayor Pro Tem Gordon Bowman said. “Those improvements had been basically ignored for years, so in order to step up we had to do a bond election. In order to avoid a million other bond elections, an item was added to the ballot and the budget to allocate a portion of our sales tax to street, bridge and drainage maintenance.”
What’s next?
The last day to register to vote for the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 6, according to the Texas Secretary of State.
Early voting will begin Oct. 20 and end Oct. 31.
More information on the upcoming election can be found on the city of West Lake Hills’ website.
