As early voting opens today, four Denton County utility and improvement districts are asking their voters to authorize more than $14.5 billion in bonds, and every one of those propositions is labeled on the ballot as a tax increase.
The measures appear on the county's active contest list for the Nov. 3 election, which previews every race and proposition on any ballot in the county. Only voters who live inside each district will see its questions.
The districts and their requests
Denton County Municipal Utility District No. 7 has the largest request: about $2.3 billion in bonds for water, sewer, drainage and organizational costs, about $1.02 billion for roads, and two refunding measures totaling nearly $5 billion that would allow it to refinance bonds issued for those purposes.
Cole Ranch Improvement District No. 2 seeks about $1.38 billion for water, sewer and drainage systems and about $1.53 billion for roads, with both measures also covering refunding bonds. The Cross Timbers Gazette has described Cole Ranch as a 3,100-acre development west of Interstate 35W in southwest Denton, planned for thousands of homes.
Northlake Fresh Water Supply District No. 1 asks for about $543 million for water, sewer and drainage and about $922 million for roads. It also seeks two maintenance taxes: up to $1.20 per $100 of taxable value for facilities and up to 25 cents per $100 for roads.
Sanctuary Municipal Utility District No. 2 seeks about $533 million for utilities and drainage, about $227 million for roads and two refunding measures totaling about $1.14 billion. A City of Denton development agreement describes the Sanctuary development as about 836 acres south of U.S. 380, east of George Owens Road and north of Old Stoney Road, in Denton's extraterritorial jurisdiction.
In each bond proposition, the ballot language provides for taxes "without limit as to rate or amount" to pay the principal and interest.
A fifth district, the Brookfield Water Control and Improvement District, has one proposition, also marked as a tax increase. It asks voters to approve a fire protection plan, the district's fire and ambulance services agreement with Denton County, and property taxes to pay for fire protection.
