Fort Bend County commissioners are talking with local officials and the public to identify items for a possible bond for county voter consideration in November.

“All the precinct offices are working with (Fort Bend County) engineering to establish a list of what is the precinct’s need, and also what our municipalities need,” Pct. 1 Commissioner Vincent Morales said. “Also, engineering has its own list it will be presenting to us. The summer is when will call for an election, but we have to put out the list and what the cost will be.”

Pct. 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said the county is working to develop a project list where projects are jointly decided upon.

“We have a lot of old roads,” Meyers said, adding that the county is performing paving assessments of its roads and bridges so it can assess conditions and identify the most critical needs.

“It’s becoming a safety issue,” Meyers said. “That’s one of the things we’re really going to be focused on this summer. We’re meeting with cities and MUDs to address some of this older infrastructure that needs a program for fixing.”

Morales said there has always been a city/county list of priorities.

“Each commissioner meets with the cities in their precincts,” Morales said. “They have their lists, and we ask them to prioritize the projects. More often than not, it’s a joint funding between the city and the county. That’s what we’ve done in the past, and I anticipate that’s what we’ll do in the future.”

When the commissioners finalize the project list and its cost, they will call for the bond election in August. No final figure has been settled upon, but Meyers said he expected the county to contribute about $400 million—essentially $100 million per precinct. He said commissioners will work with the county’s budget officer and auditor to make sure the figure fits within the county’s financial ability. He said the cities and MUDs would also contribute, making the total figure to be about $600-$700 million.

“We have to figure out what the priority projects are within a bond amount that the voters will go along with,” Morales said.

Morales said Katy, a part of which is in his precinct, has submitted a project, as has Fulshear, but some of other cities in his precinct have not done so—at least, not yet. Some of the money, Morales said, might be applied to unfinished projects where construction money might be needed.

Meyers said the county had $100 million of excess costs related to inflation with regard to the county’s our old mobility projects that we’re going to have to cover. The county committed to do the projects, he said, but securing the right-of-way and getting the utility companies to move can take up to a couple of years.

In one case, Meyers said, he had what he called “one dinky little road” where the utility did not want to check its pipeline. As a result of delays, he said, the project cost has gone up. Meyers said that particular road is now in Morales’ precinct.

Commissioners welcome public input as they prepare their list.

“They can contact Vincent, or myself, or any of the commissioners,” Meyers said.