October 2011
Lake Travis
Economic Impact Report

September 26 , 2011 |
North Shore Beacon

Precinct 3 County Commissioner Karen Huber spoke Wednesday morning to a group of about fifty at Vista Grill in Lago Vista.

Huber, a first term commissioner, addressed the crowd with an update on several issues. She described the process of whittling down the price tag of the November 8 bond election. "We started with a $600 million wishlist and pared it down to about $200 million. I'm happy that the Arkansas Bend improvement project made the cut."

She acknowledged that the Lohman Ford widening and safety project did not survive the process, but clearly stated her support of the project. "There is no other project in Precinct 3 that I consider a higher priority than the Lohman Ford issue," Huber said. In spite of that support, Huber explained that she voted against spending money on an engineering study of the Lohman Ford situation. "At such time as this project is eventually approved, those studies would be outdated and would have to done a second time. Spending money on studies that would have to eventually be done again was just not, in my opinion, a good use of taxayers' money."

Another hot topic for Huber is the Lake Travis Economic Impact Study. The study—initiated by Huber’s office and funded by a coalition of stakeholder groups like municipalities and chambers of commerce—commenced mid-March and next week will present data showing how water quality and levels play into the economic impact of Lake Travis.

"The number of people living in the immediate area of Lake Travis has tripled since the 2000 census," Huber noted. She went on to discuss the impact of Lake Travis water being disbursed to rice farmers in south Texas as well as the unprecedented distribution of water to communities that are not in the Lake Travis/Colorado River basin.

Lago Vista councilman Dale Mitchell was in the audience Wednesday morning and remarked that Lago Vista has had to come up with $48,000 to support the 911 emergency phone system--money that previously came from the Capital Area Council of Governments.

Huber detailed the scenario that led to Lago Vista having to pick up that tab. "Fifty cents from each phone bill is collected monthly by the state with that money to be disbursed to CAPCOG for the express purpose of supporting 911 operations." She went on to point out that the state legislature decided not to distribute those funds, choosing instead to retain the funds as a bookkeeping offset to state deficits.

Link to the original online article

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