As a councilman, Carlton Soules was notorious for sticker shock: He seemed to oppose nearly anything with a price tag, particularly if it benefited downtown.

It’s been a few years since Soules tried to scuttle projects with his trademark conservatism — he resigned from council in 2013 to run for Bexar County judge — but now, the old Carlton is back. His consulting firm, Strategic Market Services Inc., has produced a document that paints the city’s upcoming, $850 million bond package as fiscally irresponsible.

“As proposed, the 2017 bond sets dramatic new precedents,” the document states. “This bond needs a reallocation of resources back to historical levels before it is brought to voters.”

A series of public committee meetings began this week on the 158 capital improvement projects included in the bond, which goes before voters May 6. The list of proposed projects includes $450 million for streets, bridges and sidewalks; $144 million for drainage and flood control; $116 million for parks and recreation; $120 million for facilities; and $20 million for neighborhood improvements.

Soules’s document takes pains to compare “Mayor (Ivy) Taylor’s 2017 Bond Package” to previous bonds passed under the leadership of former Mayors Julián Castro and Phil Hardberger. True to form, Soules is especially irked by so-called “citywide” projects, such as $21 million for Hemisfair Civic Park.

“What are the ‘City Wide’ projects? The bulk of the proposed 2017 projects are in the Urban Core,” the document states. “Compare this to the Hardberger and Castro bonds, which at the time were widely criticized as a giveaway to Downtown and the Urban Core.”

The document asserts that the ‘Urban Core’ swallowed up $18.3 million in the 2007 bond and $89.2 million in the 2012 bond, and that it will consume $236 million of Taylor’s bond.

“Proposed $236 million in Urban Core spending more than doubles the COMBINED Urban Core spending of the Hardberger/Castro bonds,” it states, adding in bold, “Many of the Urban Core projects have not been through City Staff vetting or estimating.”

It was unclear on Monday why Soules is lobbying so strongly against the bond package or how he plans to deploy his research; he was not available for comment.

“I have no idea what is going through his mind,” Taylor told me. “And he has not been kind enough to share it with me.”

The mayor added that she found Soules’s document “surprising.”

“I don’t understand the premise of referring to it as my bond,” she said. “This is a community-driven process. … We’re still at the beginning. … A strong urban core benefits everyone in the city, even if they don’t come downtown. It benefits our economy and future competitiveness.”

As for the bond’s unprecedented price tag, Taylor said, “I pushed (City Manager) Sheryl (Sculley) for it to be as large as possible. The city is huge and continues to grow.”

District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño, whose district encompasses the “urban core,” had not heard of Soules’s efforts. Neither had District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher, who replaced Soules in 2014.

“He’s always been a guy that’s real careful, counting the figures and so forth,” Gallagher mused.

In a way, Soules cut a sympathetic if grating figure on the council, his obsessive counting of figures often stymied by Castro’s reliable voting bloc.

He opposed much: CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System rate increases; benefits to domestic partners of city employees; a $32 million allocation for VIA Metropolitan Transit's doomed streetcar project. All those measures passed anyway.

After he resigned from council, Soules’s quest to unseat Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff ended in defeat; he lost by 8 points.

A year later, Soules re-emerged as campaign manager for Mike Koerner, a Navy vet who challenged Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff, the son of Nelson Wolff, in the Republican primary. Koerner lost badly.

The website for Soules’s firm touts itself as a “campaign analytics & consulting organization serving the Texas market” that focuses on “assisting political campaigns & bond/ballot initiatives achieve (sic) success.”

In January, the City Council will finalize the list of bond projects that will appear on the spring ballot.

bchasnoff@express-news.net