Voters appeared to approve California Propositions 2 and 4, each authorizing $10 billion of bonds, for school bonds and climate change mitigation, respectively, while the Los Angeles Unified School District appears on pace to receive voter approval for $9 billion of bonds. San Diego Community College District voters appeared to approve $3.5 billion of bonds. San Jose Unified School District will be able to sell $1.15 billion for facility upgrades.
Houston Independent School District voters rejected two issues — $3.96 billion for expansion and $440 million for technology.
Voters were asked to consider at least $148.912 billion of bonds this year in 908 ballot referendums, according to data compiled by Bond Buyer.
California leads the pack with almost half of the total under consideration — $72.117 billion in 286 measures.
The state also boasts five of the largest bond referenda under consideration, led by two $10 billion referendums from the state and $9 billion from the Los Angeles Unified School District. A Riverside Community College District proposal for $954 million of bonds was narrowly above the 55% threshold needed for victory with ballot counting continuing Wednesday morning.
Texas comes in second with $38.375 billion across 232 bond referendums, followed by Colorado with $8.346 billion in 34 referendums.
Of the state issuers putting bond referendums up for consideration, New York is last with only one deal for $28.3 million from the Haldane Central School District, with the proceeds set to be used to fund a capital project improving safety and infrastructure throughout the district's Cold Spring campus.
Long Beach Community College District voters were okaying $990 million of bonds in early results. State Center CCD voters were supporting a $698 million bond referendum, but not enough to reach the 55% passage threshold in early voting. Sweetwater Union High School District voters seem to have approved $647 million of bonds. Glendale CCD voters approved $600 million of bonds. Sacramento City USD voters approved $543 million for STEM upgrades.
The San Juan Unified School District's $950 million bond issue had 59% support. Fremont Unified School District voters were backing a $919 million bond issue. Pasadena USD's Proposition R, which authorizes $900 million of bonds for STEM facility expansion, had support of almost 64% of voters. Rancho Santiago CCD voters nixed $720 million in bonds.
Southwestern CCD voters appear to have approved $800 million of bonds. San Francisco voters approved $790 million for school safety and $390 million of bonds for health and medical facilities. Mt San Antonio CCD voters appear to be short of approving $750 million of bonds with 55% of the vote tallied. San Joaquin Delta Community College District voters appear to have approved $598 million of bonds.
Elk Grove SD voters were backing a $542 million bond issue with about 58% of the vote, with 55% approval needed, in unofficial results. Fresno USD voters approved issuance of $500 million of bonds. Anaheim UHSD voters approved $496 million of bonds. Santa Monica-Malibu USD voters agreed to $495 million in bonds to modernize schools in Santa Monica and another $395 million to modernize schools in Malibu.
Campbell UHSD voters approved $474 million of bonds. Palm Springs USD voters okayed $465 million of bonds. Burbank USD voters approved $458 million of bonds. Rio Hondo CCD voters passed $442 million of bonds. Clovis USD voters appeared just short of approving $400 million of bonds. Cupertino USD voters appear to have okayed $347 million of bonds. Monterey Peninsula USD's $340 million of bonds seem to have passed. Santa Ana USD voters said yes to $335 million of bonds.
Santa Clara voters approved $400 million of bonds for infrastructure. Antelope Valley Joint UHSD voters approved $398 million of bonds. Pomona USD voters agreed to issue $385 million of bonds. Chula Vista ESD voters delivered a victory on $360 million of bonds. Arcadia USD voters passed $358 million of bonds.
Los Altos SD appears to have received the 55% needed to pass a $350 million referendum. San Marcos USD voters approved $324 million of bonds. Vacaville USD voters rejected $317 million of bonds. Pajaro Valley USD voters appear to have narrowly approved the issuance of $315 million of bonds. Orange County voters okayed $300 million for schools.
Charleston County, South Carolina, voters rejected a sales tax to fund transportation to raise $5.4 billion. Houston Independent School District voters turned down a $4.4 billion bond proposal.
Rolling V Ranch WCID No. 4 voters in Texas approved $1.12 billion of bonds and $377.8 million. Frisco Independent School District voters rejected its request for authorization of $986 million of bonds. Allen ISD voters approved $419 million of bonds for school improvements. Round Rock ISD voters approved Proposition A, $798 million for building improvements, and Proposition B, $125 million for technology, but rejected $66 million for athletic facilities. Hays County voters appear to have approved $440 million for roads.
Rockwall ISD voters turned down the district's request for $787 million of bonds. Waller ISD voters appear to have approved $702.5 million of bonds. El Paso County Hospital District voters agreed to issue $396.6 million of bonds. Alvin ISD got permission to sell $380.1 million of bonds. Voters appear to have rejected Odessa Junior College District's request for $355 million of bonds. East Central ISD's $331 million referendum failed.
Aurora School District (Arapahoe 28J), Colorado, voters appear to have approved $1 billion of bonds. Denver voters were approving $975 million for schools, and approved a 0.34% sales tax rate hike to generate an estimated $70 million annually for Denver Health, Colorado's sole safety net healthcare provider, but rejected a 0.5% rate hike that would have raised about $100 million a year that could back bonds for affordable housing.
Cherry Creek SD #5 voters were poised to approve $950 million of bonds. Adams County 12's $830 million referendum had 53% of the vote in unofficial results. St Vrain Valley SD #RE-1J voters seemed poised to approve $739.8 million of bonds, tallying more than 70% of the vote in early returns,
Voters were approving Sumner-Bonney Lake School District's $732 million proposal in early results, garnering 62% approval, just above the 60% needed. The Denver Downtown Development Authority's $570 million bonds were approved. Douglas Co SD #RE-1 voters passed $490 million in bonds.
Salt Lake City School District, which hasn't issued bonds since 1999, appears to have approval for a $730 million bond issue. But Salt Lake County voters appear to have rejected issuance of $507 million jail bonds.
Cary, North Carolina, voters nixed a $560 million bond issue for parks and recreation. Wake County voters agreed to $142 million of bonds for libraries.
Auburn School District 408, Washington, voters were short of the 60% approval needed to pass $532 million of bonds.
Madison Metro SD, Wisconsin, voters approved $507 million of bonds. Lake Stevens SD voters appear unable to hit the 60% for approval of $314 million of bonds. Richland SD 400 was also falling short of the supermajority to sell $314 million of bonds.
Chandler USD #80, Arizona, voters appear to have rejected the district's request for $487 million of bonds. Voters passed Tempe's
Indian Prairie CUSD #204, Illinois, voters agreed to $420 million of bonds.
All four bond questions totaling $290.6 million on New Mexico's statewide ballot passed.
Oklahoma voters defeated state question 833, which would have allowed property owners to petition their municipality to create bond-issuing public infrastructure districts.
The overwhelming success of referendums is a "good sign," said Pat Luby, head of municipal strategy at CreditSights.
"It's signaling that voters aren't opposed to new taxes, new spending, bonding when it's something practical and something close to home that benefits voter," he said.
Eleven referendums asked voters to approve bonds of $1 billion or greater, up from the five billion-dollar-plus referendums in 2023.
These large deals fit with the muniland narrative: underinvestment in infrastructure, Luby said.
Inflationary pressures have made that more pressing because everything is more expensive, especially construction costs, he said.
"Cities and states have fiscal pressures right now, so they can bond it out, and if they can get voters to approve it, then that makes the other financial decisions at the state and local government budgeting level much easier."
Of the 10 largest ballot referendums, six of them were earmarked to fund school construction an facilities improvements.
"The needs for school updates has been tremendous," said Alice Cheng, a credit analyst at Janney.
Most of the pandemic aid is drying up, forcing school districts to deal with the dwindling cash on their balance sheets, which they had on hand for the last few years, she said.
There are many projects that need to be constructed, and issuers, unable to wait for the next round of fundings and wanting to preserve available cash, are pitching ballot referendums en masse to fund these projects, Cheng said.
Additionally, with the hope that interest rates will slowly come down in 2025, now is a "good time" to address some of these new projects on the horizon, she noted.
Many of the largest ballot measures set to improve schools have passed, however, the $3.9 billion referendum for the Houston ISD, set to fund new construction and renovation and expansion, failed.
This referendum would have led to increased property taxes, with Cheng noting some voters are not inclined to have higher taxes in general.
— Karen Pierog contributed to this report
