Editor's note: To view this story as it appeared in the August South Central, North Central and Southwest Austin/Dripping Springs editions, click here.

After an outpouring of support from local child care advocates, Travis County commissioners approved a measure Aug. 13 to ask voters for a tax increase on the November ballot.

Property owners across the metro are being asked to support lowering annual child care costs. Currently, the cost for one child to attend daycare in Travis County is comparable with a year of tuition at The University of Texas at Austin, officials said.

If approved by voters, the increase would raise an additional $77 million annually—an estimated $288 total tax increase to the average homeowner—to fund a multi-pronged approach aimed at reducing the burden of child care costs for the community’s most vulnerable populations.