*Results are complete, but unofficial.
Hays County voters passed Proposition A (Prop A) in the 2024 General Election with 64,422 (55.75%) votes to approve and 51,130 (44.25%) to reject.
Prop A is a road bond that calls for the county’s use of $439 million to work on the maintenance, construction and operation of 27 county road projects.
Since the road bond was approved, property taxes would go up by about 2 cents for every $100 of a home’s value, according to the proposed road bond plan. This would be an annual increase of about $80 for a $400,000 home, or approximately $7 a month.
There are four Buda projects, three Dripping Springs projects, seven Kyle projects and two San Marcos projects. The two San Marcos projects include Leah Avenue and Centerpoint Road.
The Leah Avenue project is estimated to cost $1.8 million and is designed to connect two existing road segments of Leah Avenue. The Centerpoint Road project is estimated to cost $30.7 million and will construct a grade separation over a Union Pacific railroad.
The commissioners court approved the order for a bond election at its Aug. 13 meeting. County residents voted either for or against the borrowing of money for the bond projects.
The proposed road bond plan stated the reasons for the bond include improving safety and mobility, responding to rapid population growth, addressing current infrastructure and supporting economic development. According to U.S. Census data, Hays County had a growth of around 39,000 people from 2020 to 2023.
Four Hays County residents filed a lawsuit against Hays County over an alleged Texas Open Meetings Act violation when approving the road bond.
Lead plaintiff Les Carnes said the county put early mentions of the road bonds in the ‘miscellaneous’ section of the agendas, instead of the ‘roads’ section. Carnes believes that was done in an attempt to hide the bond from the public.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking no monetary gain, but wish to put a permanent pause on work related to the road bond and void the order for a road bond election on Nov. 5.
