New Data Shows Billions of Dollars in New Debt is Being Approved By a Tiny Fraction of the Population
Executive Summary
New data from the Texas Bond Review Board1 (BRB), required by HB 3526 passed by the Texas Legislature this year, shows disturbing trends in Texas bond elections. In the recent November 4 local bond elections, voters put themselves deeper in debt by approving $83.7 billion of the $92.9 billion of bond proposals on the ballot. However, many Texans are likely to be surprised by how little support the increased debt has across the state.
Texans did approve 90% of the bonds on the ballot. Yet, overall, only 50.08% (571,332) of Texans voted to pass bonds. There were 569,596 (49.92%) votes cast that opposed issuing new bonds. Even more concerning, $76.4 billion of the bond initiatives that passed did so with only 433 total votes in favor, or 0.04% of the total votes cast. This is because in these 294 bond elections, only 3 votes or less were cast in favor of the bonds.
| Results of Texas’ 2025 Local Bond Elections | |||
| Bonds Approved | Bonds Defeated | Total | |
| Amount | $83,692,878,535 | $9,243,461,053 | $92,936,339,588 |
| Votes For | 338,696 | 232,636 | 571,332 (50.08%) |
| Votes Against | 255,968 | 313,628 | 569,596 (49.92%) |
As of 2024, the BRB database2 shows that debt carried by local property taxing entities totaled $186 billion. But if you include the amount of interest due on the debt, the total cost rises $311 billion. We can add $113 billion of state debt to the total. Including the recent bond elections (without the interest), Texans now have more than $360 billion worth of debt payments to make.
Because of multiple bond proposals in many of the low turnout elections—mostly in water districts organized as Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs), only 121 voters approved the $76.4 billion of new debt in these elections. Something is wrong with a system that allows 121 people to incur so much debt without any input from the tens of thousands or perhaps millions of Texans who will have to pay it off. There is also something wrong with a state that has a balanced budget amendment in which its residents have more than $360 million in debt payments at the same time its tax burden is rapidly increasing (property taxes and state taxes are climbing by about 8% and 6%, respectively, on an annual basis).
Texas’ tax and debt systems are broken. Something clearly needs to be done to fix them.
Overview of Bond Proposals
There were 493 bond proposals on the November ballot. They ranged in value from Sandow MUD 1C’s (Milam and Williamson counties) $3.7 billion bond package for water, sewage, and drainage to Spring Hill Independent School District’s (Greg County) $802,256 proposal to pay for athletic facilities.
The bonds on the ballot were proposed for various reasons. The construction or renovation of buildings, pools, and stadiums, the purchase of buses, and related expenditures were behind $10.4 billion of the proposed bonds. Bonds for parks and recreational purposes totaled $6.4 billion. Building new roads was the purpose of another $19.5 billion in funds. Water districts proposed just over $35 billion in bonds for water, sewer, and drainage improvements. Technology bonds totaled $203 million. Refunding, the practice of issuing bonds to repay previous bonds issued at higher interest rates, accounted for between $18.5 billion and $44.7 billion of the bonds; most of these from water districts.
Nineteen Voters in Fort Bend, Milam, and Williamson Counties Approved $21.6 Billion of New Debt
The county with the most amount of bonds approved was Fort Bend; voters approved $12.8 billion of bonds. But something disturbing shows up in the Fort Bend voting results. Of the total bonds approved in the county, $10.8 billion of the bonds covered by 35 ballot propositions were approved by only 59 votes. In each case, the bond proposal received only one or two votes in favor; there were zero dissenting votes. There were also six bond propositions in Fort Bend County that involved a significant number of voters. In those, 55,159 residents voted to approve bonds, 51,072 voted against them. One half—three—of the proposals failed. The bottom line in Fort Bend County is that 99.3% of the proposed bonds by value were approved with only 51.9% of the vote. Even worse, $10.8 billion of bonds were passed by only 0.06% of the total votes cast in the election.
| Low Turnout Districts with Approved Bond Proposals Over $1 Billion | ||||
| District | Type | County | Amount | Votes |
| Sandow MUD 1A | WD | Milam-Williamson | $3,076,800,000 | 1 |
| Sandow MUD 1C | WD | Milam-Williamson | $3,690,830,000 | 2 |
| Sandow MUD 1C | WD | Milam-Williamson | $1,988,200,000 | 2 |
| Fort Bend County MUD 212 | WD | Fort Bend | $1,950,000,000 | 1 |
| Fort Bend County MUD 212 | WD | Fort Bend | $1,359,750,000 | 1 |
| River Rock Trails MUD 1 | WD | Rockwall | $1,289,478,351 | 1 |
| River Rock Trails MUD 2 | WD | Rockwall | $1,223,493,673 | 1 |
| Seven Springs MUD | WD | Collin | $1,087,362,500 | 1 |
| Fort Bend County MUD 212 | WD | Fort Bend | $1,050,750,000 | 1 |
Another example of few voters approving billions of dollars of bonds took place in Sandow MUD 1A and Sandow MUD 1C, which span Milam and Williamson counties. These two MUDs took the prize for the largest package of bond proposals, a combined $10.2 billion. How many voters approved these bonds? The three bond proposals totaling $4 billion in Sandow MUD 1A passed with each receiving one vote in favor. Voters really turned out for the three proposed $6.2 billion of bonds in Sandow MUD 1C, with each receiving 2 votes in favor. Taking into account multiple proposed bonds in Milam, Williamson, and Fort Bend county, this means as few as 19 voters approved $21.6 billion debt in these counties.
Bonds Barely Eke Out a Majority Statewide
The pattern in these counties also showed up across the state. Overall, $83.7 billion out of $92.9 billion worth of bonds on the ballot passed. This means that 90% of the bonds on ballots around the state were approved. But only 50.08% (571,332 votes) of Texans statewide voted to increase debt. Votes from Texans opposed to issuing new debt totaled 569,596 (49.92%).
Again, we must note that the vote totals do not necessarily represent how many Texans voted in these elections because voters may have voted on more than one bond proposal. Nonetheless, only 1.1 million votes cast in the bond elections when Texas has over 18 million registered voters shows that a very small portion of the population is making decisions for all Texans, current and in the future. But even this statistic minimizes the extent of the problem with the current system.
| Bond Elections with Less Than Four Total Votes Cast | |||
| Bonds Approved | Bonds Defeated | Total | |
| Amount | $76,385,860,842 | $3,258,414,500 | $79,644,275,342 |
| Votes For | 433 | 7 | 440 |
| Votes Against | 3 | 22 | 25 |
Just like in the case of Fort Bend, Milam, and Williamson counties, a disproportionately minute number of voters approved a huge amount of debt. Of the $83.7 billion in bonds approved statewide, $76.4 billion of that total received only 433 total votes in favor, or 0.04% of the total votes cast. Of these bonds, $39.8 billion in 162 elections passed 1-0. Another $35.7 billion across 124 elections passed 2-0. Finally, $897 million passed either 3-0 or 3-1 in 8 elections.
It gets worse. Because of multiple bond proposals in many of the low turnout elections—mostly in water districts organized as Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs), those 433 votes were likely cast by only 121 voters. That “not-much-more-than-a-handful” of voters, in turn, approved $76.4 billion of new debt.
Conclusion
Texas has become a very business friendly state; in fact, one could argue that it is a bit too friendly. This has come at the cost of taxpayers and consumers who must pay for billions of dollars of handouts to favored businesses.
The issuance of debt by MUDs and other local taxing entities is part of the problem that is driving runaway growth in local spending. Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to require a two-thirds majority3 for increasing property taxes could be extended to issuing local debt. Yet, that will not solve the problem of 1-0 and 2-0 votes that approve billions of dollars of debt. The Texas Legislature should examine ways to have broader public input into approving large bond packages.
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