Charles Curry has been asking the same question for years: Why does it take so long for the City of Austin to spend its bond money?

As the cash-strapped city weighs whether to ask voters to approve a bond package in November, the delayed spending has influenced the way some city leaders see the future of a possible vote. Now Curry and fellow commissioners on Austin’s Bond Oversight Commission want answers about how and why bond spending is lagging. The commission recently recommended the city produce a report detailing why some departments fell so far behind on bond spending in 2025.

At the center of the election debate is a growing concern from city leaders and oversight commissioners: Austin is still sitting on billions in voter-approved debt while some projects fall behind and costs keep rising. That backlog is shaping whether the city should ask taxpayers for more before delivering on promises already made.

City departments regularly tell Bond Oversight Commissioners that they’re spending that money quickly and efficiently. Bridges, parks, streets, housing — all on schedule.

But the projects often don’t materialize on time.

The city still has $1 billion in unspent money from bonds as far back as a decade ago. Financial staffers have recommended holding off on another bond package until the city has spent 90 percent of its current bond money. That threshold should be met by 2028.

The city is already coming off a stinging rejection by voters, who last year voted down a tax increase amid questions of fiscal responsibility. Mayor Kirk Watson said recently he will not support a bond election because the council must build community trust.

Council Member Krista Laine, who represents Northwest Austin said she supports the commission’s request for a report detailing how and why bond spending is lagging behind schedule.

“Beyond serving the community, consolidating this information in one place will also benefit City Council and staff by replacing a fragmented, departmental approach with a unified, cohesive record, which will make us more efficient and accountable at every level,” Laine said.

Sitting on bond money isn’t thrifty. It’s a problem. The longer it remains unspent, the more expensive projects become: design, materials, labor, all of it, Curry told Austin Current. That can force the city to scale back projects or go back to the voters for more money.

Meanwhile, voters don’t get what they voted for in a timely manner.

Curry, who served as the city’s budget director from 1989-2001, told city staffers late last year that those delays had soured some people on the idea of passing more bonds.

“Part of what we’ve heard from the community as we talk about a new bond election is, ‘You haven’t done what we thought you promised to do in previous bond elections,’” Curry told city finance staffers in an October 2025 meeting. “They’re angry and upset.”

New data shows lag

The 11-seat bond oversight commission is an advisory group. It doesn’t audit how the city spends bond money. It oversees the spending process. It makes recommendations to the City Council.

City departments appear before the commission to update members on how spending is proceeding.

But internal timelines often shift because of unforeseen delays, Stephen Grace, assistant director of Capital Delivery Services, said in that October 2025 meeting.

So city staffers adjust their spending plans. They tackle a smaller part of the project or stick to a new schedule, he said.

Earlier this year, Curry said, he read a city finance report with information he’d never seen before — a breakdown by department with the percentage of money they’d actually paid out. Some departments had spent less than half of what they planned to for the year.

“I thought hallelujah!” Curry said. “We understood the information we had seen had turned out to not be accurate.”

Grace said the city plans to start using a new software that will help better track on a “granular level” the changing timelines. It would help staffers become more disciplined with tracking and reporting in a way that the current system does not and, presumably, relay that information to interested parties like the Bond Oversight Commission.

Accountability for unspent money

Meanwhile, that report Curry found helped the bond commission take action. Instead of depending on departments for accurate information, they are asking the City Council to help.

In its recommendation to council last month, the commission wrote the information it had been receiving was “substantially inaccurate.” The group asked the council to produce a report analyzing departments that have not spent at least 75% of the money outlined in annual bond spending plans.

That would allow the city to take steps to ensure projects are being completed on time, the document states.

Council Member Zo Qadri, who represents Austin’s downtown district, said the bond commission’s request for more information is reasonable.

“Bond programs represent a significant investment by Austin taxpayers,” Qadri said. “Both Council and the public should have access to clear, consistent information about how those dollars are being spent and how projects are progressing.”