Tarrant Bond Proposals

In case you Tarrant County voters didn't know it, we have a county-wide bond election on saturday, May 13th. Early voting has already started and will continue thru May 9th. There are five propositions on the ballot.

Proposition #1 - This proposal includes over 60 road and highway projects countywide. These are definitely needed if we are to avoid gridlock in the future. Tarrant County has one of the fastest growing populations in the state of Texas. More cars are on the road every day and many of these projects are already overdue. The proposal is to use $200 million in bonds issued by Tarrant County.

Proposition #2 - This prop will use $108 million in bonds to build a new 432 cell maximum security county jail to relieve overcrowding. It also would build 96 medical cells. This would decrease or eliminate the need to transport prisoners to the county hospital, resulting in a saving of transportation costs and improvement in security.

Proposition #3 - This prop will use $62.3 million in bonds to build a new civil courts building. It should save money by putting all civil courts and their supporting departments in the same building.

Proposition #4 - This prop would use $36.3 million in bonds to expand the juvenile detention center and construct safer juvenile courts. We have a very good detention center here in Tarrant County, but it definitely needs to be larger.

Proposition #5 - This prop will use $26.5 million in bonds to build a new crime lab. It will also enhance the DNA, Photo, Human ID, Intoxilyzer, Solid Chemistry, and Fingerprint labs. The tiny lab we now have will not be able to keep up as the county grows without this proposal.

I support all of these bond proposals. They make sense and they are desperately needed. Also, they would NOT mean a rise in taxes, even if all are approved. I urge the citizens of Cowtown and all the cowtownettes [suburbs] to vote yes to these propositions on May 13th.