A Closer Look at Austin’s Project Connect

In November 2020, the city of Austin and CapMetro partnered to create the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), which oversees Project Connect, a community effort to expand transit options throughout the capital region. Recent legislation, however, might make it harder to move forward.

For context, the project aims to add a light rail system; a new Green Line and enhancements to the Red Line for commuter rail; four new MetroRapid routes and an all-electric expanded bus service and newly designed stations; nine new “park and rides” and one new regional transit center; plus an on-demand pickup and drop-off service with connections into the transit system.

Regarding tech, ATP’s FY 2023 capital budget has $50 million earmarked for existing project management and engineering contracts and new contracts for architectural services, systems, vehicles and real estate services.

Other opportunities include the development of customer technology, including an account-based mobile app and a reloadable, reusable smart card that lets you pay for and use all types of transportation.

As for funding the project, voters approved Proposition A in November 2020, raising the property tax rate by 8.75 cents to support Project Connect instead of relying on bonds, which have caps on tax usage.

According to an article from The Texan, the issue is “voters approved the measure by a 16-point margin to set an 8.75-cent rate increase to partially finance Project Connect; the original proposal was an 11-cent increase for a total cost of $10 billion. At the time, the city was counting on federal funding — which some still hope will come — that has since all but dried up.”

To put this into perspective, the original cost estimates to build two light rails totaled $5.8 billion. Now, that number has nearly doubled to $10.3 billion, according to a Project Connect memo.

So, how does legislation come into play?

To address this issue, Rep. Ellen Troxclair (R-19) and Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-83) have proposed a bill requiring all spending by local government corporations, such as the ATP, to be approved by voters.

More specifically, the bill states all future projects proposed by a local government corporation must include the following information to be voted on by the public:

• “A plain language description of the single specific purposes for which the bonds are to be authorized.” 
• “The total principal amount of the bonds to be authorized.”
• “The principal of and interest on the bonds that will be wholly or partly paid from property tax revenue.”