Comment on County approves four bond proposals for $848 million

Harris County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to put four bonds totalling $848 million on the November ballot, marking the first time a county bond referendum has been before voters since the Astrodome plan was rejected in 2013. The county's engineer and budget manager hammered out the specifics last week: $700 million bond for roads and bridges, $60 million for parks, $24 million to improve the animal control facility and $64 million for flood control improvements. The need for such measures stems from tremendous population growth in unincorporated parts of Harris County, John Blount, the county engineer, wrote in a July 21 letter introducing the four-part proposal to the commissioners.