As Fort Bend County officials finalize the list of road construction projects to be funded with a potential bond issue in November, county commissioners agreed in June to cut over $70 million from the list of projects being considered.

At a workshop in June, county commissioners were told in order to keep the county’s tax rate from increasing, the amount of a bond issue would need to be capped at around $220 million. The total cost of projects now under consideration is $292 million.

Servicing $220 million in bonds would not require any increase in the tax rate, county auditor Ed Sturdivant told the commissioners at the meeting.

County engineer Richard Stolleis said commissioners have already whittled down the list of projects to be completed with the bond money from 100 to 70. Of the 70 projects, 28 include funding from local municipalities.

County officials have not made public the specific projects under consideration for inclusion on the list of those that would be funded with the potential bond sale.

The list of projects will be released when and if the commissioners decide to put the bond issue on the November ballot. The deadline to do so is August, and the commissioners set a goal of mid-July to finalize the list.

Stolleis suggested the county require municipalities to adhere to timelines for completing various stages of work on jointly funded projects, as some projects approved years ago have never been started due to lack of movement on the part of the partnering city.

Stolleis said there are joint projects that were approved during the last transportation bond issues in 2007 and 2013 that were never begun because of lack of movement from the partnering city.

County Judge Robert Hebert said he favored canceling previously approved projects in instances where a partnering municipality drags its feet.

“We have to get these projects moving,” Hebert said. “I think we need to tie [cities] down. If they don’t move, that’s tying up capital that could be used on other projects.”

Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage said he is considering using some of the bond funds slated for his precinct on sidewalk repair.

Precinct 4 Commissioner James Patterson named the expansion of the intersection of Voss Road and Hwy. 6 as one of the priorities in his precinct.