By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

The Travis County Citizens Bond Advisory Committee recommended to the Travis County Commissioners their ideas for a $144 million bond package last week on July 18.

“We have finished our work,” said Brian Thompto, the only Four Points resident on the 15-member CBAC.

The CBAC took months looking at which Travis County road and park projects should be next in line for funding. They were part of 18 committee meetings and six public outreach meetings. The CBAC recommended an allotment of $144 million over the next four years.

This week, it’s the public’s turn to give feedback to the commissioners on the proposed bond package.

“The public gets a chance to tell the commissioners what they think or ask questions,” Thompto said.

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By KIM ESTES
Four Points News

Of 500 registered Leander ISD voters, 43 percent told surveyors they would support a $454 million bond if school officials put the matter up for a vote in November, said Rice University professor, Robert Stein, reporting results of a community survey to trustees meeting last Thursday.

Thirty-nine percent said they were undecided on the matter, while 18 percent stated that they would vote against it, Stein added.

LISD trustees are considering the bond proposal that supporters said would accommodate growth, improve safety and provide major facility maintenance throughout the district. Officials must decide no later than Aug. 21 whether or not to call for the referendum for it to be on the fall general election ballot.

A Citizens Bond Advisory Committee — formed earlier this year to develop a three to five-year facility plan to meet district needs — recommended the proposal.

As for the community survey, the goal was to gauge interest in certain bond issues, said Dan Troxell, LISD superintendent.

Under Stein’s direction, Consumer Research International of San Marcos conducted 500 live telephone interviews between June 25 and July 6. The error rate for the survey was +/- 4.5 percent.

In addition to questions about a $454 million bond, surveyors asked responders about optional items which would total a $480 million bond.

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Tim Mattox, an advocate for annexation reform, spoke at the Senate State Affairs Committee on Sunday afternoon in support of Senate Bill 6, which puts annexation into the hands of voters.

By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

Senate Bill 6 — which would give communities the right to vote on whether or not they want to be annexed by a city — was approved by a state Senate panel on Sunday during the special legislative session.

SB 6 was heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Sunday afternoon. Senate committees met over the weekend, approving bills for the Senate to consider this week.

“HB 6 has been filed and referred to Land and Resources,” said Roger Borgelt, attorney of Borgelt Law. “The bills (HB 6 and SB 6) are virtually identical to each other and the conference committee report that was filibustered in the regular session, so they both have all the language necessary for River Place.”

On Sunday, the majority of a dozen speakers at the Senate committee hearing were in support of SB 6, Borgelt said. Tim Mattox, an advocate for annexation reform, was one of those speakers. He is an 18-year resident of River Place, father of four and a member of the homeowners association board.

“I became involved in this issue because I saw a number of families and couples on fixed incomes being impacted by massive water rate increases associated with the city of Austin taking over our MUD,” he told the committee.

The city of Austin is in the final stages of annexing River Place, which is to be complete by the end of this year. Annexation is a multiple year process and at this point, many River Place residents have been vocal about opposing annexation.

Mattox’s research shows that the potential impact of annexation on property taxes and electric utility rates would be in the thousands of dollars per household per year with no improvement in services and limited input or say from the affected property owners, he said.
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