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San Antonio City Council Approves Largest Bond In City History

Joey Palacios
/
Texas Public Radio
San Antonio City Mayor Ivy Taylor and City Manager Scheryl Sculley are joined by members of city council shortly after the bond package's approval.

The San Antonio City Council has unanimously voted in support of an $830 million bond package. 

The 2017 bond is the largest in the city’s history and drew praise from former Mayor Phil Hardberger.

“It probably meets more needs than we’ve ever had,” he said.

Over half the bond - $450 million – is slated for streets, bridges and sidewalks. That includes 43 million dollars for lower Broadway, a project designed to increase pedestrian and cyclist mobility. Bob Martin of the Homeowner taxpayer association of Bexar County told council members he opposes that part of the project because it could remove traffic lanes.

“It’s just plain wrong, we need more traffic lane, not fewer,” Martin said.

Bond money would be spent in all ten council districts. San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor says it would provide historic investments in infrastructure. “As our population continue s to explode and attract new businesses and jobs completion of these projects has become critical to helping maintain our city’s momentum,” she added.

There’s money for drainage and flood control, library and park improvements, and facilities like a new district 9 senior center; development of Alamo Plaza, a new park at Steubing Ranch, the Hardberger Park land bridge, and work at Hemisfair.

The bond comes without a tax rate increase partly because recent increases in home values and property appraisals are bringing more revenue to the city. 

“Our capacity is based on our values but it’s mostly dependent on new growth in the community,” said San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley.

The city has hired an outside company to help build support for the May 6th vote.

Joey Palacios can be reached atJoey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules