Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said he will “push hard” for a county-wide road bond in 2024 as the growth in the county swells.
It’s been almost eight years since Montgomery County put a road bond on the ballot but Keough said looking to the public may be the next option to address mobility needs.
Montgomery County commissioners haven’t formally discussed a potential bond but the topic surfaced several times during its August budget workshops.
The county in August approved its $419 million budget for 2024 and set the tax rate at 36.96 cents per $100 valuation, down from the 2023 rate of 37.64 cents per $100 valuation.
Keough said as the needs grow, a bond is something the county will need to address in the next two years.
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“I’m going to push hard for a bond package in the fall (of 2024),” Keough told The Courier. “We have a lot of a lot of project working be we also know we are going to have to come up with a bond in the near future.”
Keough said the population of Montgomery County could top 1 million by 2030. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Montgomery County’s population has grown to 620,443 in 2020 from 455,749 in 2010.
“The time for action was yesterday,” Keough said.
The court will discuss the viability of bond at its Sept. 12 meeting, Keough said.
Bond history
Montgomery County voters have historically been unenthusiastic about road bond elections.
Voters rejected bond packages in November 2011 and in May 2015. The last time voters approved a county road bond was November 2015.
In 2015, the path to a road bond was bumpy.
Woodlands voters defeated a $350 million road bond in May 2015 after many residents said the proposed bond project to extend Woodlands Parkway from FM 2978 to Texas 249 would make traffic worse in the community.
Over the next several months, many of the same Woodlands voters came back to the commissioners and urged them to remove the Woodlands Parkway extension project from the failed bond list and put the bond back on the November 2015 ballot.
While the court repeatedly said it would not call another 2015 bond election, on Aug. 24, 2015 it unanimously agreed to place a scaled-down $280 million bond on the November ballot and the $280 million referendum passed.
Funding options
While county funds for roads are tight, the county does have other options including state and federal dollars for some projects.
In early August, commissioners gave its support for almost $800 million in recommended road projects from the Texas Department of Transportation for funding through the Houston Galveston Area Council.
The projects are for the council’s 2023 Transportation Improvement Program of transportation projects approved for federal funding over the next four years.
Keough said the projects are not yet funded but none require matching funds from the county.
The list includes 16 short-, medium- and long-term projects ranging from the restriping of Interstate 45 to a $200 million project to widen Interstate 45 to 12 lanes from Texas 242 to Loop 336 in Conroe.
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The list also includes the new $70 million four-lane Magnolia Bypass from FM 1488 to Texas 249 and the $67 million widening of FM 1488 to six lanes from FM 2978 to Interstate 45.
Commissioners agreed during an Aug. 22 meeting to compile a list of projects in each precinct to submit to TxDOT to use $56 million in escrow funds from the county’s pass-through toll program with the state for road projects.
According to information from TxDOT, the funds must be used to make improvements on state roads or on projects that help improve traffic on state roads.
“TxDOT is very ambitious for us to use this money,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray said during the court’s Tuesday meeting. “It’s a good move for the court, it’s a good move for the county.”
While the project list has not been complete, commissioners said it would include a braided ramp and the widening of FM 2854 from Loop 336 to Texas 105 Montgomery. They will review the list at the Sept. 12 commissioners’ court meeting.
