City Bond Proposals Pared Down Again - This Time, to $400 Million

The Bond Election Advisory Task Force has continued to refine a potential bond package to send to Austin voters this November.

The latest iteration of the proposals comes in at $400 million. That's down from an initial $1.5 billion department-wide “needs assessment,” then packages valued at $650 million and $575 million. The Austin City Council will eventually choose the projects that make it to voters.

Funds are organized under the following categories: affordable housing, city facilities, community-based projects, parks and open spaces, and transportation and mobility. 

In the $400 million package, finalized May 21:

• Affordable Housing: $76.8 million (19.2%) 
• City facilities: $68 million (17%)
• Community-based projects: $6 million (1.5%)
• Parks/open space: $110 million (27.5%)
• Transportation/Mobility: $139.2 million (34.8%)

Here's how that compares to the recent $575 million proposal, approved May 14: 

• Affordable housing:  $100.5 million (17.5%)
• City facilities: $98.8 million (17.2%)
• Community-based projects:  $17 million (3%)
• Parks/open space: $150 million (26.1%)
• Transportation/Mobility: $208.7 million (36.3%)

So what’s changed?  The task force is staunchly behind affordable housing, with those funds largely preserved in the latest proposal.

Taking the biggest cuts are transportation and mobility projects. But as the briefing on urban rail funding this morning demonstrated, financing that project is a whole category itself, separate from this bond's transportation spending. 

You can read more on the city's bond development website.