San Antonio officials are gearing up for the 2017 municipal bond, a $850 million list of big-ticket infrastructure projects that will, in part, help the city prepare for an estimated 1.1 million more people who will one day live in the region.

The bond, if approved by voters, would be the largest in the city’s history and bigger than the 2012 bond by $254 million. No property taxes will be raised to fund the projects; instead, the city would issue debt. New bonds are usually considered every five years, a way to meet “needs that go beyond our annual city budget,” Mayor Ivy Taylor said at a Tuesday briefing about the bond.

“The bond program is how we make those big capital investments,” City Manager Sheryl Sculley said later.

Voters will go to the polls to consider the bond May 6, but the process to determine what projects make it into the package is already under way.

The bond covers five categories: streets, bridges and sidewalks; drainage and flood control; parks; facilities, like fire stations and libraries; and a new proposition called neighborhood improvements, a category that could include money for affordable housing.

This would be the first time affordable housing would be considered for the bond although officials say there are potential roadblocks to the types of housing programs originally envisioned.

On Aug. 10, City Council will meet to discuss how to divide the bond money among the five categories.

City staff has been developing a list of potential bond projects, based on several guiding principles: whether the project supports the ideas outlined in SA Tomorrow, the city’s comprehensive plan due for a council vote Aug. 11; if a project could leverage funds from other public agencies or the private sector; if it is a continuation of a previous project, like street improvements that could be extended farther; and a project help to ensure “rough proportionality,” meaning all four corners of the city would get a share.

Five citizen bond committees, one for each funding category, will be set up by early August. The committees’ makeup, about 30 people each, will be based on suggestions from council members. Residents can contact their council member if they want to participate.

The committees will start meeting to discuss the potential projects, including whether to add to, or cut ones from, the staff-recommended list, in late September or early October, Sculley said. All of the committee meetings will be open to the public.

The final list of projects will be sent to City Council in late December, with a council vote likely in January, Sculley said.

In the last two bond elections, in 2007 and

2012, between 75 percent and 80 percent of the money went to street and drainage projects, Sculley said. The city has more than 4,000 miles of streets, she added.

Sculley said she believes about 70 percent to 75 percent of the money in next year’s bond is likely to again go to basic infrastructure like streets and drainage. The mayor and City Council also have asked for a substantial investment in sidewalks, she said.

On Tuesday, Taylor introduced the three 2017 bond program tri-chairs: Eddie Aldrete, senior vice president of IBC Bank; Carri Baker, chief operations officer of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP; and Darryl Byrd, a co-chair of SA Tomorrow and a former CEO of the Pearl Brewery and SA 2020.

vdavila@express-news.net

@viannadavila