Voters In Travis County To Consider Bond Issue In November

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Voters in the Austin area will consider whether to spend $287 million to build a 14-story civil courthouse.

Travis County commissioners voted Tuesday to place the courthouse bond issue on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The Austin American-Statesman (http://atxne.ws/1MxRgtz ) reports the proposed 52,000-square-foot courthouse would be built on county property currently used as a parking lot.

Backers say the new structure would free up space at the Heman Sweatt Travis County Courthouse, which county officials say is dilapidated and overcrowded. A political action committee, funded primarily by the legal community and organized by the Austin Bar Association, backs the bond proposal.

Critics say the site would be better used for mixed-use development, or sold to the private sector.