Opinion: GEAA Says Proposition 2 Could Endanger Important Ecosystems

Texas voters can soon weigh in on potential changes to the state’s Constitution regarding a variety of issues, including county infrastructure.

Election day is Nov. 2, and early voting begins Oct. 18 and lasts until Oct. 29.

For those of you living in fast-growing counties in the Hill Country area, consider and vote carefully on Proposition 2: tax financing for county infrastructure.

This amendment would authorize counties to issue bonds or notes to raise funds for transportation infrastructure in undeveloped areas. Counties would repay these bonds by pledging increased property tax revenues.

At issue is the prospect that funding transportation infrastructure in undeveloped areas would hasten development in what is already one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation, and how this would impact dwindling water supplies, flooding, water quality, and spring flows.

Land that some may consider “undeveloped, unproductive, or blighted” may be recognized by others as land providing important ecosystem services.

While we realize that some counties in our region might be facing challenges to providing needed transportation infrastructure, perhaps raising the state-mandated cap on impact fees would be a more equitable solution by allowing new development to absorb the costs of services required.

To learn more about Prop 2, click here. To read more about all of the propositions, click here.

About the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance

The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes effective broad-based advocacy for protection and preservation of the Edwards Aquifer, its springs, watersheds, and the Texas Hill Country that sustains it.

The Edwards Aquifer is the source of the largest springs in Texas and the sole source of drinking water for more than 1.5 million Central Texas residents.