At $145 million, Proposition 2 is the most expensive portion of the city of Austin’s $567.4 million bond proposal. It seeks to improve drainage and water quality protection.
If approved, $95 million will go toward flood control, erosion control and storm water drainage. Without the bond, the city will have to rely on the $15 million it collects in drainage fees.
Problems in the Boggy Creek Watershed are at the top of the city’s improvement list.
"In the upper Boggy Creek Watershed we have a number of erosion, flooding and water quality problems. Limestone blocks and a lot of vegetation to secure the banks that when we leave the creek it doesn't look like we have done any work,” Joe Patalion of the Watershed Protection Department said.
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Proposition 2
The $145 million proposal would go toward flood and erosion control, storm water drainage and the acquisition of land.
 
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The second part of Prop. 2 asks voters to let the city use $50 million to buy land.
"Proposition 2 includes funding to protect land in the Barton Springs watershed," Colin Clark of the Save Our Springs Alliance said.
The land will be protected by one of two ways. In the first, the city can buy the land outright and turn it into a preserve. In the second, the city can buy development rights to the land.
"It's is widely agreed that the best way to protect water quality is through the protection of undeveloped land," Clark said.
It's also widely agreed that the best way to decide whether the city can spend this money is to vote on Nov. 7.
