Elections 2022Taxes & Spending$21 Billion in Local Bonds on November 2022 Ballots Across Texas

According to the Bond Review Board, over 150 entities including cities, counties, community colleges, and school and water districts are seeking approval of general obligation bonds. Their uses range from school buildings to athletic facilities to buses to security measures.

The total is down from the May 7 local election when $34 billion was proposed, of which only $24 billion passed at the ballot box. But the total for November’s general election is up substantially from either the local or the general in each of the preceding four years.

The May 2020 election was an outlier with $839 million in proposed bonds on the ballot — many of which were ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the flip side, the May 2022 local election saw a massive amount of proposed debt on the ballot as water district bonds nearly matched school districts.

In all, since the May 2018 election, political subdivisions have placed nearly 1,700 different bond proposals before voters.

On average, school districts account for the vast majority of bond propositions, both in raw numbers and in dollar total.

This fall, they account for 64 percent of the bonds totaling 101 separate propositions. Entities may put forward multiple propositions before voters in one bond election, often done to separate spending for school buildings from spending for stadiums, etc.

The single largest proposition on the upcoming ballot is a $2.3 billion bond to fund school building repairs and security upgrades by Austin Independent School District (ISD).

Bond dollars are not subject to school recapture which the district touts in support of the bond on its “About the Bond” webpage. Colloquially called “Robin Hood,” recapture takes property tax dollars from wealthier districts and distributes them to poorer ones. Austin ISD saw more money flow out of its coffers from recapture than any other in the state during the 2020-2021 school year — three times the next closest in Houston ISD.

The district has two other bonds to supply $75 million for technology purchases and $47 million for stadium renovations.

Behind Austin ISD’s bond, the only other two to eclipse $1 billion are Lamar Consolidated Independent School District and Plano ISD.

Lamar CISD has five different propositions on the ballot. The largest is for security measures, new elementary schools, and renovations of existing schools. The others consist of technology upgrades, a new Career and Technology Center, a new $195 million stadium, and renovations to the existing stadium.

Plano ISD has five propositions on the ballot as well; there are four capital expenditure-focused items similar to the purposes planned for both Austin ISD and Lamar CISD. But those are on top of a 6.9 percent Maintenance & Operations tax rate increase that requires voter approval, as it eclipses the 2.5 percent increase cap set by the Texas Legislature in 2019.

Harris County is seeking approval of a $900 million bond for road upgrades as part of a $1.3 billion package. The largest city proposal is a $294 million item by Kyle for road construction.

And after their packed May election, water districts have proposed substantially less spending than earlier this year. The largest single water district proposal is the New Sweden Municipal Utility District’s (MUD) near-half million item refinancing current debt. In total, the MUD’s five bonds reach $1 billion.

Tuesday, October 11 is the final day to register to vote in Texas and the two-week early voting period begins on Monday, October 24.

View each individual proposal below.