By Aashna Shah and Miquéla V Thornton State and local governments across the US are asking voters to approve at least $84 billion of bond sales next week, exceeding levels in recent elections in a push to finance infrastructure projects as well as housing affordability measures.

The proposed borrowing on ballots in the midterm contests tops the roughly $81 billion debated in the presidential election year of 2024, and is well above the roughly $16 billion in bond referendums voted on last year, according to a Bloomberg analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The tally this year includes referendums valued at $200 million or more for school districts, counties, cities or states and excludes any special districts.

California leads the pack, with the state, its municipalities and school districts seeking authorization for roughly $60 billion, based on the data. Texas ranks second with about $10 billion of bond measures.

The nation’s two largest referendums are also from California: Proposition 37, which would authorize $25 billion in revenue bonds for home buying assistance, and Proposition 1, an $11.25 billion general obligation bond for affordable housing.

Proposition 37 is aimed at helping middle-class Californians buy homes and build generational wealth, said Robert Hertzberg, a former California Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader who authored the measure.

He pointed to the rising cost of buying a house in the state, as only about a fifth of households can afford to buy a median-priced home. The price for a mid-tier home is about $760,000 in the Golden State, more than twice the cost of a typical mid-tier US home, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The borrowing proposals come as the muni market is poised for another record year in bond sales. US states and local governments are selling debt at a record clip, borrowing more than $500 billion so far this year as the need for infrastructure mounts. Municipal bond issuance is up about 6% from the same period last year and is on pace to top $600 billion by year-end, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This midterm’s higher slate of bond measures results from increased needs due to aging infrastructure, expectations of less money coming in from the federal government and inflation pushing the price tag on construction projects higher, according to Eve Lando, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management.

For example, South County Fire in Snohomish County, Washington, is seeking approval of Proposition 1 for a $420 million bond to fund improvements to existing fire stations, build new ones and upgrade emergency response facilities. The fire department started auditing the health of their infrastructure in 2016 to see which facilities needed rehabilitation. When Covid-19 hit in 2020, a majority of construction work was put on hold.

Christie Veley, communications director for South County Fire, said the board decided to move forward with the referendum because costs for the renovation projects have nearly doubled since the initial estimates and are expected to continue increasing. A slate of other measures are designed to help ailing school districts.

In Michigan, Dearborn Public Schools is seeking voter approval of a $1.5 billion bond to refurbish dilapidated buildings. The average Dearborn school building is 71 years old, with about a third of its facilities at or nearing 100 years. The district wants to build new pre-kindergarten to eighth grade facilities and modernize existing schools to add full air conditioning, expand special education facilities and upgrades safety and security.

“School districts face the challenge of addressing decades of deferred physical maintenance while equipping students for the future,” said Mike Esseily, district superintendent. “Our children deserve more than out-dated systems and band-aid solutions.”The Wake County Public School System is asking voters in Raleigh, North Carolina, to approve $680 million in general obligation bonds to fund renovation, repair and construction of aging school facilities. If approved, the bonds would help finance Wake County’s seven-year capital improvement plan, which includes renovation or replacement of 17 existing school facilities, as well as building eight new schools.

The North Carolina county’s population has grown rapidly since 2020, resulting in a sharp increase in enrollment and causing the school district to rely on mobile classrooms and build new facilities.

Renovating older schools also gives the school system a chance to regain some of the market share of students that may have switched to charter or private schools, said Tyler Swanson, chairman of the Wake County Board of Education.

“This gives us an opportunity to win those families back and show them that public schools are the best thing that they can invest in,” Swanson said.