Kyle City Council received a standing ovation from many audience members after unanimously deciding to put a bond package on the ballot for the May 11 election that will fund engineering and improvements to five thoroughfares including Bunton Creek, Lehman, Goforth and Burleson roads and Marketplace Avenue.

"I almost want to cry, I'm so happy," Mayor Lucy Johnson said before she voiced her support of the package.

City Attorney Julian Grant will prepare the ballot language, which will be brought to the council for a first reading at its next meeting Feb. 5.

The move comes after an attempt to get the bond on the November ballot failed. In August, with a vote to put the issue to voters looming, councilman Ray Bryant said he was weary of the vagueness of the original ballot language, which did not explicitly state which roads would be improved. Council members Samantha Bellows-LaMense, Bradley Pickett and Mayor Pro Tem Diane Hervol agreed and voted against the measure, effectively eliminating the possibility of its placement on last year's ballot.

This time around, the Mobility Committee specifically stated which roads would receive improvements and provided detailed information about the taxes that would pay for the roads courtesy of Finance Director Perwez Moheet and City Engineer Steven Widacki. The two options that were considered during much of the past month included the five-road package, which was approved Tuesday night, and a three-road package that would have provided engineering for all five roads and construction on Bunton Creek, Goforth and Burleson roads.

The total cost for the five-road project is expected to be about $35.3 million for engineering and construction as well as $16.6 million for financing over six years.

Bryant said he was weary of increasing residents' tax burdens any more but was convinced that this was what voters wanted.

"I do still have those concerns that you heard me echo over and over again," Bryant said.

Bryant listed the increasing water and wastewater rates, as well as the increasing costs of fuel for city vehicles and equipment, as issues that are looming on the city's financial horizon.

"I really believe that you have made a decision that, given all the things I've named, you're willing to stop kicking the can down the road, bite the bullet and take care of Kyle and make it the place we all know it can be," Bryant said.

The deadline for the ballot language to be submitted to the Justice Department and for the election to be called is March 1. The council's only two regularly scheduled meetings in February are Feb. 5 and Feb. 19.