Posted: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 08:04 PM - 8,997 Readers

By: Jeff Stensland

Some Travis County voters have almost $400 million in bonds on their ballots. The bulk of them are dedicated to improving parks, roads and bridges in the county.

However, the rest are to keep up with rapid school growth in West Travis County, including the Lake Travis Independent School District.

Consultants were within 30 students when projecting current district enrollment five years ago. If their numbers hold true, the schools will be at capacity in just three years.

Lake Travis ISD Trustee Robert Brewer wants to keep the district's exemplary state academic rating, but knows more space is needed to maintain student-to-teacher ratios.

"Families want to be here in Lake Travis more and more,” Brewer said. “We've seen, through the increased numbers in student enrollment, that is certainly the case."

Lake Travis ISD officials are asking voters fora $158 million bond issue to build a new elementary and middle school, add onto Hudson Bend Middle School and improve existing campuses.

Gary Loudamy headed up the bond advisory committee, and he said his team’s goal is to stay ahead of the district’s rapid growth.

"Playing catch up is one of the things we wanted to avoid,” Loudamy said. “If we get behind that growth curve, it makes it very difficult to catch up."

The current plan is to have Lake Travis High School expand and take over the Lake Travis Middle School campus right next door. According to officials, building a new high school campus would cost more than the entire bond package."

"That's a prudent approach, and it makes a lot of sense all the way around," Loudamy said.

Travis County Commissioners are also asking voters for money, about $215 million in bonds. About two-thirds of that money would go to replacing dilapidated bridges, adding sidewalks, bike lanes and re-paving roads.

The rest would be used to create and improve county parks.

"If you want to do them, you really need to get out ahead of development,” Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe said. “Otherwise, you'll end up paying three or four times as much to acquire the land."

The school bonds are only on the ballots for families in Lake Travis ISD. However, all voters are able to decide on the park and road improvements, even if they do live within city limits.

The cost of the projects would be spread over 20 years through property taxes.

*  Story Contributed by: Jeff Stensland