Hang on to your wallet

The City Council was presented a report of results and recommendations by the Road Bond Committee on Tuesday, January 13, 2015.  The full report can be viewed on the city's website by looking under the workshop agenda for the subject date. http://agendas.georgetown.org/AttachmentViewer.aspx?AttachmentID=14412&ItemID=9227.

The proposed projects are listed in priority order in the following table.  The color coding indicates how the projects group to meet the objectives identified in the report.

The $220 million dollar price tag would be funded by bonds of 20 year duration, issued as project designs are completed over the next 15 to 20 years.  Bonds have to approved by the voters.

Councilmen Brainard, Fought, Hammerlun and Gonzales indicated a bond package of this size and scope was not politically or financially possible and that it needs to be scaled back.  Issuance of $220M worth of bonds over a 15 to 20 year period would result in a 15 to 20 cent increase in property taxes per $100 of assessed value. Remember the current City property tax rate is approximately 44 cents per $100 of assessed value and the debt service tax rate is 22 cents per $100 assessed value!

There seems to be a sense of "urgency" to put together a bond package that could be submitted to the Georgetown voters as part of the May 9 municipal election.  This subject is coming before the Council again in a workshop in two weeks, January 27.  The City staff goal is to have a final bond package available for Council approval at the February 10 Council meeting.  The final date for submission for inclusion on the May 9 ballot is February 24.  There is no clear requirement that dictates submission for the upcoming election and it would seem prudent to take adequate time to provide public input on the scope and timing of the projects to be included in a bond election.

The primary rationale for building these road projects over the next 15 to 20 years is that the City needs to anticipate the needs, as the City is projected by some, to grow to 100,000 population by 2025 and to 200,000 by 2040.  The basis for these projections is unclear, but, they greatly exceed the actual City growth over the past 10 years.  The City has grown at a compound annual rate of 3.3% over the past 10 years.  Projecting that growth forward results in a population of 72,000 in 2025 and 84,600 in 2030.  Therefore, it seems more realistic growth rates should be used when developing plans for road projects over the next 15-20 years.

Again, contact your Council person with your thoughts and recommendations.  It is your money!