Tarrant County voters signaled on Tuesday that they support spending $825 million on improvements to Tarrant County College campuses.
Between early votes and election day results from all 332 vote centers counted, the ballot proposition was prevailing with voter support of about 60 percent to 40 percent opposed.
This is the first bond election Tarrant County College District officials have asked voters to approve since 1993, which was approved to pay for development of the Southeast Campus.
Meanwhile, enrollment has continued to grow and has nearly doubled since 1993.
The bond issue will pay for construction of new facilities and improvements or repurposing of old ones to accommodate growth and better prepare students for the workforce.
“It will allow us to handle a lot of growth,” TCC Chancellor Eugene Giovannini told the Fort Worth Business Press.
In the fall semester of 2017, TCC enrolled 52,956 students and employed 2,247 people full time. It also employed about 670 full-time faculty members and about 1,300 adjunct faculty members at its six campuses and through online education.
The district’s aging buildings, including some that are more than 50 years old, the the need for updates and expansion is critical, Giovannini said.
TCC officials have pledged to repay bond debt without raising the district’s tax rate.
In other races, Arlington ISD voters were overwhelmingly in favor of a $966 million bond package that will pay for school building improvements and upgrades for the fine arts, transportation, technology and security. As part of the package, three aging school buildings will be replaced.
With results from 295 of 332 vote centers, the bond issue was supported by 66.7 percent to 33.23 opposed.
In the race for the District 4 seat on the Fort Worth ISD board, Daphne Brookins took a commanding lead of nearly 60 percent over two opponents with 138 of 332 vote centers reporting.
In Keller, voters appeared to welcome the expansion of liquor sales by a margin of nearly 70 percent to 30 percent opposed.
The ballot proposition would allow packaged liquor to be sold in Keller along with beer and wine.
Keller city voters were also supportive of a ballot proposition to dedicate one-quarter cent of sales tax to pay for road improvements for four years. The proposition captured 80.8 percent support to 19.15 percent opposed with 295 of 332 vote centers reporting.
Keller ISD’s $315 million bond package was also winning support from district voters. With most vote centers reporting, the measure was supported by 54.3 percent of voters compared to 46.6 percent opposed.
If the bond issue passes it would pay for school improvements and replacement of aging buildings as well as upgrades for security and technology.
In the Fort Worth Independent School District race for the District 4 position, Daphne Brookins was receiving 60 percent of the vote, defeating Johnny Cook-Muhammad who had 26 percent of the vote and Terry D.T. Miles who had 14 percent of the vote.
In the race for Benbrook Mayor, Jerry B. Dittrich took 65 percent of vote, followed by Dave Clark with 28 percent,, and Bob Koci with 8 percent.