Kendall County and Boerne residents have two weeks to register to vote on several measures and races that could have a lasting impact on the area.
The voter- registration deadline is Oct. 11, with both the county and city eyeing multimillion-dollar bond measures, as well as a decision to create an emergency services district for the Bergheim community.
Early voting runs Oct. 24 through Nov. 4, with Election Day Nov. 8.
Residents will see two county elected jobs up for grabs. A race for state representative is also on the ballot. Chad Carpenter in March won the GOP primary and now faces Democrat Kevin Henning for the Precinct 4 commissioner spot.
Republican Dave Neighbor will take on independent candidate Erica Matlock, who served as an assistant criminal district attorney, for the Precinct 2 JP seat.
Former Austin Councilwoman Ellen Troxclair captured the GOP nod for the newly formed Texas House District 19 during March primaries, setting up a contest with Democratic candidate Pam Baggett in November.
The majority of Kendall County is now part of District 19, which includes Gillespie, Blanco, Burnet and western Travis counties. Kendall County used to be in District 73.
County Bond
The county’s electorate will have the opportunity to decide on a $20 million land-conservation bond proposed by commissioners last month that’s aimed at matching rapid development with preserving surroundings.
“This is an opportunity for us to move forward in an endeavor I think will have a lasting impact,” County Judge Darrel Lux said the day the measure was approved for placement on the ballot. “Commissioner (Don) Durden hit me hard about two weeks ago, or a month ago, when he said, ‘What are you going to tell your grandkids what Kendall County was like when you were a child?’” He added, “What hit me the other day is, it’s not my responsibility to decide what y’all are going to do. It’s y’all’s (voters’) responsibility. We have the opportunity to give y’all that opportunity. So, it made my life a lot easier.”
Bergheim ESD
Voters in the Bergheim Volunteer Fire Department’s service area will have the final word on the creation of an emergency services district.
ESDs are an individually recognized political subdivision developed by a public vote after a petition with 100 signatures is presented to the county. These districts have a board which establishes a levy – which, by state law, cannot exceed 10 cents per $100 of taxable valuation – and can collect part of county sales taxes in the district.
The money provides for better public-safety services, equipment , training and even full- time firefighters, supporters say.
While there has been public pushback on the creation of a localized ESD, Fire Chief Adam Hawkins repeatedly noted increased call volumes are becoming difficult to answer with only volunteers.
“If you’d asked me 10 years ago if I ever thought we’d be in the position we are now at the Bergheim Fire Department, I’d say, ‘No way,’” Hawkins, who has been the chief for six years and a volunteer firefighter for 20 years, said in previous discussions.
In the first quarter of the year, the department responded to more than 150 calls, the chief said. The latest figures were not available at press time.
Boerne bond
Boerne residents are set to nix or give the nod to two bond measures totaling $ 36 million, including a $23 million “ bucket” to overhaul and widen Adler Road and improve other roads and intersections, and a $13 million measure to develop Northside Community Park and upgrade other parks around town.
“I get an email daily almost about the condition of our roads,” District 2 Councilwoman Nina Woolard said during an earlier bond discussion. “And you know the bottom line is, we don’t have $10 million-plus laying around to address a lot of these road issues that we’re looking at. I agree with the $36 million because it does address the two things the public had said over and over and over again are important to our community.”
It’s all in the hands of the voters now, she added.
“We’ll let the public decide,” Woolard said. “They can either vote yes or no, and if they’ve got two propositions here, they can decide which is more important or they may decide neither one of them. So, we can at least give it to the voters and the citizens and the taxpayers in the city of Boerne to decide what’s important to them.”
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