Area voters reject proposed civil, family courts complex bond

In a tight race, voters denied a Nov. 3 proposal for $287.3 million in bond funds to build a new civil and family courts complex, or CFCC, in downtown Austin, according to official election results released Nov. 13 by Travis County.

Voting results showed 50.72 percent of voters opposed the courthouse proposal, with 37,130 votes counted. According to Travis County tallies, 49.28 percent cast their ballots in support of the proposal, with 36,082 votes.

The CFCC bond proposal called for funds to build a new facility on Guadalupe Street that would provide services for civil and family law areas, such as adoptions, marriages and cases related to domestic violence.

[caption id="attachment_118131" align="alignright" width="460"] The proposed courthouse site was downtown.[/caption]

A few groups, including the Travis County Taxpayers Union, the Real Estate Council of Austin and the Travis County Republican Party, voiced their opposition to the bond proposal in the weeks leading up to the election, citing reasons such as the cost burden on taxpayers and the potential downtown Austin location for the courts complex.

If the bond had passed, each county homeowner would have seen an estimated $13.50 property tax increase annually per $100,000 of taxable valuation, according to the Travis County Planning and Budget Office.

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said Nov. 4 that the county’s Commissioners Court would have to consider all options to figure out the “next best option” from a financial and timing perspective.

“It was a tough loss,” she said. “It was a close race, but we lost. Now we must regroup and figure out how to provide this justice another way. … We’re going to have to have some deep conversations over the next month to figure out what the next step is, but we need to move swiftly because we are in dire need of additional space.”