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FM 1626 in Hays CountyPosted June 8, 2007, 12:20 a.m.
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Hays Highway Editor
BUDA – Despite the failure of a $172 million bond package that would have improved four state highways in northern Hays County, the future of FM 1626 remains a burning issue, particularly in the Buda area.
Hays County Judge Liz Sumter met Thursday night with about 150 citizens from the northern portions of the county, the majority of whom implored her improve FM 1626 one way or another. The meeting at one point grew slightly contentious among the citizens, but not over the specifics of the road so much as the sharp tone some citizens took towards the judge.
Sumter wished to take input from the Buda area, specifically about FM 1626. Some citizens said they would prefer a scaled down version of the improvements designed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and one even suggested a four-land divided highway. However, a show of hands at the end of the meeting revealed that about two-thirds of the people in attendance were satisfied by TxDOT's five-lane plan. Sumter, who didn't campaign for the road bond, didn't invite bond advocate Jeff Barton, the commissioner from Buda's precinct, to the meeting. However, Barton was out out town Thursday, anyway.
Since the May 12 election, in which the bond fell by a vote of 5,340 to 4,860, the commissioners court has batted around alternatives. A proposal to gather information from equity firms about the financing the roads privately fell by a 3-2 vote in court Tuesday, but the court agreed late last month to appoint a committee to look at road issues.
The failed bond proposal would have enabled the county to issue $172 million in debt for improvements to FM 1626, SH 21 and RR 12, as well as the construction of SH 110. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) would have repaid the county at a rate of 14 cents per vehicle mile, up to $133 million over 20 years.
Following the bond's electoral defeat, in a letter dated May 23, TxDOT gave the county 30 days to accept the pass-through financing agreement. Sumter told the gathering Thursday night at Hays Hills Baptist Church that the county will respond on June 12. Sumter has maintained that TxDOT is more pliable than its pronouncements indicate. She told the Thursday audience that TxDOT "is likely to wait until a November election."
However, no such election for a new bond issue has been called, nor has the road committee been seated. The deadline for nominations to the road committee is June 26.
Sumter added that she's hesitant about taking action outside the parameters of the May 12 vote because she doesn't wish to subvert the electoral process. Citizens responded that it would be foolish to let the state take $133 million off the table.
The May vote highlighted sharp contrasts between different areas of the county, not merely in terms of their transportation desires, but in terms of their political awareness and acuity. Commissioners said after the vote that the result shows that the county is divided. However, indeed, the county's division was one of the guiding premises in the election.
Only one road, RR 12, would have served the western portion of the county, anchored by Wimberley and Dripping Springs. And that road was quite an unpopular proposal in Wimberley, which discourages encroaching growth. So, most observers predicted that the western half of the county would oppose the bond, which would have called for a tax increase of about one penny per $100 of taxable value.
But no one predicted that the western half of the county would so decisively outperform the eastern half at the ballot box. Out of 69,797 registered voters in Hays County, 47,885 live in the highway east, with only 21,822 in the hill country west. Intuitively, one would expect the highway east to obliterate the hill country west in an election of competing interests.
However, only 11.9 percent of the registered voters from the San Marcos area turned out, as well as only 10.2 percent of the Kyle area voters. Meanwhile, 29 percent of Wimberley voters showed up, as well as 30 percent of the voters from the Woodcreek area.
The bond passed in the highway east with 59.5 percent approval, 3,428 to 2,337. The bond failed in the hill country west, 3,003 to 1,432, a mere 32.3 percent in its favor. However, only 17,387 registered voters in the west declined to participate, compared with a whopping 42,120 registered voters who stayed home in the east.
So, if any lesson is to be drawn from the May 12 vote, it's that western voters are more engaged in the public process and they have been rewarded with the outcome they wanted.
However, the Buda area was unusual among eastern cities for its high turnout. More than any portion of the county, Buda supported the bond, turning out 19.8 percent of its registered voters, with 69.5 percent of them approving the proposal. Voters were motivated by the status of FM 1626, the major road towards Austin for working commuters in the affluent western parts of the Buda area.
Thus, Sumter met with Buda area residents Thursday night so she could listen to concerns. She made no promises, and especially didn't predict how TxDOT would respond to the county next month, but she indicated more than once that she thinks the state agency will work with the county.
In another development this week, San Marcos officials are putting together a proposal by which the city will put up $29.4 million for the first segment of SH 110 (the San Marcos Loop) if TxDOT kicks back $17.6 million per the pass-through agreement. The city council has instructed City Manager Dan O'Leary to tell Hays County Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe about the city's intentions, as the county would have to serve as a conduit between the city and the state.
As the San Marcos loop is in the city, a city government is available to take action. However, none of FM 1626 is in any incorporated area of Hays County. Which means it's up to the county if the road is going to be improved.
