February 4, 2008 22:40 - Blasted in Buda
By Bill Peterson
BUDA – Hays County Judge Liz Sumter (D-Wimberley) met a generally hostile crowd Monday night at Hays Hills Baptist Church, where she said she wants to put a new state road financing plan before voters, probably in a May bond election.
Composed of Buda-area residents in broad majority (a dozen Kyle people attended), the meeting focused on roads. Sumter hoped to also talk at length about parks, but Buda-area residents, impatient about the lack of progress on FM 1626, pushed the road issue.
Two citizens remarks were most likely to generate applause. One went along the lines of, "I voted for you the last time, but I will campaign against you the next time," which came up at least twice. The other was any remark urging the commissioners court to finance the roads and keep it out of the hands of voters.
Sumter told the assembled that she wants the roads projects to be based on "consensus." Later, Robert Kleppinger of the Buda area stood up and asked all in attendance to raise their hands if they were most concerned about improving area roads. The overwhelming majority raised their hands.
"There's consensus for you," Kleppinger said to the judge. Kleppinger continued blasting the county for its lack of action.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "It's a shell game. Spend the money. Fix the roads."
Based on the results from the May 2007 bond election, Buda-area residents worry that Wimberley-area voters would kill another such initiative. Though Hays County's Interstate-35 east outnumbers the Hill Country west about two-to-one in population, the westerners are much better engaged politically. In the May 2007 election, voters from Wimberley and Driftwood turned out at about a 40-percent clip, compared with 20 percent for Buda and about ten percent for Kyle and San Marcos.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) went to the Hays County Commissioners Court last week with a revised pass-through financing proposal that subtracted RR 12 from the road package and replaced it with improvements to I-35 running through Buda and Kyle.
Sumter said Monday night that she will support a new bond package. However, her words gave little comfort to Buda-area residents at the meeting, who fear the outcome of an election, even though Sumter said she believes Wimberley voters will support a revised bond package that leaves out RR 12.
The county could pay the up-front costs for about $170 million of improvements to state roads by asking voters to approve a bond issue, with a promise from the state to pay back up to $133.2 million over 20 years. The county also could issue revenue bonds, with the promise from TxDOT as security. As another option, the county could pursue some kind of public-private partnership with a private firm to generate the up-front money, with the county passing its state reimbursement to the private firm.
Sumter has favored private-public partnership during the last year, though commissioners, especially Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley (R-San Marcos) said he can't imagine that a private enterprise motivated by profit would offer the best deal. Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton (D-Kyle) said in court last week that the county should consider revenues bonds to front at least part of the roads deal.
Buda City Councilmember Sandra Tenorio, who gave Sumter a hard time over roads at a Buda City Council meeting in January, took Sumter to task again Monday night for blocking road progress during commissioners proceedings. Though Barton and Conley have been in concert on moving road issues, they often have been one vote short of a majority on the five-member court.
"Your one vote could have made a majority," Tenorio said to Sumter. "So, we're looking to you to put your one vote for Northern Hays County."
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February 6, 2008 00:00 - Who's for it?
Commentary
By Bill Peterson
KYLE – Hays County Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton (D-Kyle) received next to a hero's welcome Tuesday night in the Kyle city council chambers, where the city's legislators passed a resolution in favor of pursuing a new pass-through road financing proposal between the county and the state.
Kyle councilmembers sat spellbound and entranced as Barton told the exciting story of one-way access roads along Interstate-35, as well as a re-alignment of SH 150 to the east, which would take motorists directly from the interstate to the main highway through the city's southeastern section.
"Why would anyone be against this?" Kyle Mayor Mike Gonzalez asked.
Said Barton, "In the interest of decorum, I should not answer that question."
In fairness to the county judge and the other commissioners, we should emphasize that no one is against the latest proposal, so far as anyone has said. Indeed, County Judge Liz Sumter (D-Wimberley) told a couple hundred people in the Buda area Monday night that she would support a bond election.
Of course, that's easy to say. The obstacles lie not in advocacy or opposition to accepting the pass-through agreement per se, but in the commitment, or lack thereof, to making it happen.
The burning question right now is whether the county should front the costs for state road improvements with a general bond issue, which requires voter approval. A subsidiary question concerns whether to call an election for May, the first election date of 2008, or November, which is the other.
Those are the questions being kicked around right now. And both questions dissolve into irrelevance when we look at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) schedule for building the improvements.
TxDOT wants to award bids in May, and likes the money in hand 60-90 days in advance. Even if the county passes a bond in May, the county can't issue bonds until 30 days later, which means TxDOT gets money in June.
That is, the timeline, alone, for an election in May or November works against the agreement. Barton is quite sensitive to the timeline, which is why we shouldn't be too surprised if he motions in the next couple weeks for the court to pull the trigger on revenue bonds for at least part of the front costs, enough to start the projects.
The real question right now concerning road improvements isn't "Who's against it?" because being against it requires no action. If you're against it, simply doing nothing will slow it down.
The real question is, "Who's for it?" Being for it requires action. Being for it requires that three court members out of five vote to issue revenue bonds and move the projects immediately. It's safe to say Barton and Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley (R-San Marcos) are two votes in favor. Who's the third?
Sumter is the judge for the entire county. However voters stand on revenue bonds, they might want to inform her, in volume, that they're watching her closely on this issue. Volume speaks volumes.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe (D-San Marcos) includes eastern San Marcos and southern Kyle in her territory. She's up for election this year, with an interesting fight in the Democratic primary against old war horse Celestino Mendez, followed by a November contest against Republican Nick Ramus.
Ingalsbe is in no position to ignore constituents right now. However you feel about revenue bonds, for or against, tell her. That's completely in play. It's democracy. People can make a difference. Will they?
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February 7, 2008 13:21 - Big school ballot
The Hays Highway
The May 10 election is shaping up as a pivotal event for Hays CISD affairs. If the school district has roused more contentious elections in the past, this year's ballot will go a long way towards determining the school district's mid-term future. That is, if any real options emerge among the candidates.
It's well known that the school district called last week for a May 10 election to decide on an $86.7 million bond to fund two elementary schools and a middle school, along with other improvements across the Hays CISD.
But the school district also has three of its seven trustees seats up for election, including two-single member district positions in the Kyle area.
Trustees Secratary Joe Muñoz, the dean of Hays CISD trustees, is a three-term veteran of the school board since 1999. He is likely to gun for another term in District 2, which basically encompasses the eastern Kyle area.
Melissa Esponiza, whose District 1 covers central and northern Kyle, is up for her second term. Mark Jones, an at-large trustee, is up for election to a second term.
None of the incumbent trustees has announced in public the desire to run for additional terms, but it's safe to assume all of them will. The questions is whether any opposition will emerge.
Filing for the school board election begins on Feb. 11 and ends on March 10.
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February 8, 2008 15:29 - Sumter schedules Kyle
The Hays Highway
KYLE – Maybe she's responsibly answering a public outcry, and maybe she's just a glutton for punishment, but Hays County Judge Liz Sumter finally has scheduled a town meeting in Kyle.
Sumter will appear at Kyle City Hall on Sunday, Feb. 24, from 2-4 p.m.
The judge originally left Kyle off her February tour, which included Buda, Dripping Springs, Wimberley and San Marcos. Kylites raised their hackles over the omission, prompting Sumter to squeeze Hays County's fastest growing city into her busy schedule.
Sumter appeared Monday night near Buda, where area residents peppered her with demands to work quickly on FM 1626. Sumter might expect to hear similar exhortations from Kyle residents about Interstate-35, now that the state's latest proposal for financing state road improvements in Hays County include a re-routing of SH 150 and the transformation of I-35 access roads to one-way.
Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis announced Sumter's visit to town at Thursday night's Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce (KACC) Ambassador Bash, where the city unveiled its economic development plan. About 200 people attended the Thursday meeting.
By the time Sumter appears in Kyle, it's possible the situation regarding I-35 could change. Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton has placed an item on next Tuesday's commissioners court agenda calling for "Discussion and possible action regarding Hays County's Pass Through Financing Agreement with the state of Texas, whether to proceed, and options to finance the county's share of the agreement."
An additional item, placed by Sumter, calls for discussion and possible action to amend the transportation advisory board's charge.
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February 10, 2008 23:03 - Coming to a head
By Bill Peterson
Tuesday figures to as another dramatic moment in the endless saga of state roads in Hays County.
In a ten-page missive issued through various agents in Precinct 2, Commissioner Jeff Barton (D-Kyle) announced that he will ask for a straight up-or-down vote to front state road improvements by the issue of revenue bonds at this week’s meeting.
Barton wants to issue revenue bonds, which don't require voter approval, to at least fund engineering so the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) can move the projects on its schedule, which calls for projects to be bid in May. Hays County Judge Liz Sumter has come out in favor of a May bond election, in which case the county couldn't hand funds over to TxDOT until June even if voters approve.
Without laboring through the long history of the county's pass-through financing agreement with TxDOT, the basics are straightforward.
TxDOT is willing to expand FM 1626, build a loop in southeastern San Marcos (SH 110), finish improvements to US 290, turn the access roads on Interstate-35 through Buda and Kyle to one way, improve overpasses and turn-arounds on I-35 through Buda and Kyle, and re-route SH 150 in eastern Kyle.
However, TxDOT lacks the funding or the borrowing authority to start those projects. So, Hays County would have to front the costs for those improvements. TxDOT promises to reimburse the county up to $133.2 million over the next 20 years.
The county would have to borrow the money. The county could issue general obligation bonds, which require voter approval. Or, the county could issue revenue bonds with TxDOT's promise of repayment as security. Barton will call for the county to issue revenue bonds, which don't require voter approval, because, he says, the county simply doesn't have time to execute the technicalities necessary for a May bond election.
Barton's plan calls for issuing revenue bonds to start the work in TxDOT's time frame, then call a bond election for November to fund the rest. The extra time before a November bond vote would enable the county to assemble a bond committee and account for other transportation developments in the next few months.
Quoting Barton's letter:
Some are arguing against revenue bonds, arguing that we can wait and put everything to a vote in May [...] But failing to issue revenue bonds now – even if it’s only for engineering and utilities, and maybe right-of-way acquisition – means critical delays, time in which traffic will grow worse, environmental clearances may expire. It means more time for the state to change its mind and back out on the deal. (We have painstakingly negotiated a deal with the staff at TxDOT, but we still have to get approval from the Texas Transportation Commission, the five-member body appointed by the governor. We’re supposed to go before them later this month. If our message to them is “keep on waiting, we’ll have an election and let you know” … well, it might not blow the deal but it sure gives me stomach acid thinking about everything that could go wrong.)
Almost certainly, Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley (R-San Marcos) will join Barton in voting to issue revenue bonds. Just as certainly, County Judge Liz Sumter (D-Wimberley) and Precinct 4 Commissioner Karen Ford (D-Dripping Springs) will vote against it. That puts the frequently vacillating countenance of Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe (D-San Marcos) clearly on the hot seat as the swing vote.
It figures to be an intense morning of conversation among the commissioners before a full house in San Marcos. The stakes are high and, at this late hour, the outcome remains uncertain.
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