Cracked RoadPhoto courtesy Michiel de Wit/Shutterstock.com

On May 21, the Bond Election Advisory Task Force agreed on further cuts to a $575 million package of capital improvements—or enhancements to roads, parks, city facilities and other community needs—to come to a $400 million package.

The 15-member citizen task force will present the two packages to Austin City Council on June 5. Council has until mid-August to decide whether to place one package or a version of a package on the November ballot for voter approval.

To get from the $575 million package to the $400 million package, the task force cut:

  • A $15 million project to make mobility improvements on East Sixth Street from Congress Avenue to I-35
  • A $4 million expansion of the Austin Police Department's 911 dispatch center at the CTECC Operations Center
  • $1.65 million in improvements to a maintenance facility at Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park
  • $2.25 million to build a south district maintenance facility for the Parks and Recreation Department

Many other projects took major reductions. For example, $27 million that would go to improvements to North Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road in the larger package was reduced to $16 million, and a $35 million allocation to I-35 improvements was cut to $21 million.

In total, the $400 million package allocates $68 million to city facilities, $76.8 million to affordable housing, $110 million to parks and open space and $139.2 million to transportation and mobility.

The task force set aside $6 million for so-called community-based projects, or projects that were not on the original $1.5 billion list of needs presented to the task force in February but received notable community support during the public input process.

The capital improvement projects would be funded through bonds, which could lead to a rise in City of Austin property taxes, particularly if a proposed urban rail project is also funded through bonds.

On May 22, the Austin Transportation Department said it would cost $550 million for design and construction of the first phase of an urban rail network that would run from downtown to the Mueller development in Northeast Austin, and that up to $275 million would need to be paid for through bonds.

Based on calculations presented by the city's Capital Planning Office, a $625 million bond issuance would mean an additional $83 in property taxes per year by 2016 for the average homeowner. A bond issuance of $385 million would not lead to a property tax rate increase.

Download a full project list here.